NEWS PRIEFS

London-based think-tank warns of coming instability

The Royal Institute for International Affairs, a London-based think-tank, has issued a report warning of impending economic and political crises in Yemen as oil resources are exhausted. The report cited a World Bank study that predicted Yemen’s oil and gas revenues will plummet over the next two years and fall to zero by 2017 when resources are exhausted as the primary reason for future unrest. As oil and gas account for 90% of the country’s exports, their disappearance will have a devastating effect on Yemen’s economy.

The report describes Yemen’s democracy as “fragile” and states that if the country becomes a failed state it could threaten stability from Saudi Arabia to northern Kenya. The report also said that a failed Yemen would lead to an increase in piracy and smuggling in the Gulf of Aden, which would have severe implications on the security of shipping routes and the transit of oil through the Suez Canal.

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Protests and violence across Yemen before April elections

The Joint Meeting Parties (JMP), a consortium of five opposition parties, have announced that they will boycott the April 2009 parliamentary elections. Thousands of JMP supporters have organized protests in many of Yemen’s governorates against the voter registration process. Massive protests have been held in Taiz, Hudeida, Ibb, Mahweet, and many other cities.

Security authorities have arrested dozens of protesters in several governorates. At Sana’a University, guards arrested nearly 20 students for distributing statements encouraging their peers to boycott the voter registration process.

Mohammed Al Mansour, spokesman for the JMP, has openly criticized the Yemeni government’s responses to peaceful protests of illegal elections procedures across the country. He accused authorities of using violence against peaceful protesters.

In Lahj governorate, a 16 year old Yemeni child was killed and several others were injured in a clash between security forces and protestors.