‘Hope looming in Yemen crisis’

‘Economy, infrastructure pose huge challenge’

“IT LOOKS like hope is again looming in the horizon to end the Yemeni crisis which has already claimed the lives of thousands of people, and according to some reports this crisis has resulted in the killing of more than 60,000 people since 2016,” columnist, professor at Kuwait University’s Political Science Department and assistant undersecretary for legal affairs at the Ministry of Information Dr Haila Hamad Al-Mekaimi wrote for Annahar daily.

“Not only that, this crisis has left as many as eight million of Yemenis suffering from famine and according to the United Nations reports this figure is likely to reach 14 million out of the 22 million Yemenis (total population) and this means this country shall first of all face a human disaster.

“In other words, Yemen has been transformed into a victim for regional and political calculations as well as of various agendas and struggling Yemeni parties. Such being the case, we found that the international community, has actually started attaching hopes to the new round of negotiations which is currently taking place in Sweden, hoping that these negotiations will conduce to containing the struggle.

“In this context, we say there were previous attempts that were exerted last September, but these attempts were doomed to failure, because the Houthis had refused to take part in the scheduled discussions that were supposed to take place in Geneva.

“But for the time being it seems the hope will be renewed again with the arrival of the Houthi team aboard a Kuwaiti aircraft. This team was accompanied by the United Nations special envoy to Yemen Martin Griffith who arrived in the Yemeni capital Sana’a.

“For their part, the Houthis, however, have agreed to take part in the negotiations in Sweden in the wake of a decision that was taken by the Arab Coalition allowing them to shift fifty of their wounded men to the Sultanate of Oman for medical treatment.

“As a matter of fact, the peace discussions will be mainly based on a general framework that includes among other things, boosting necessary actions that are likely to help build confidence between the two parties and form a transitional ruling authority.

“In this context, we say the government of the Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi which currently enjoys an international recognition, was toppled in Sana’a in 2014.

“However, in the wake of this development, the troops of the Arab Coalition were striving in vain to reinstate this government. Given the above, all people are currently in agreement that the new discussions which currently take place in Sweden, shall give a crucial chance to find out the necessary peaceful and permanent solution for the Yemeni crisis under a Yemeni was leadership that might be capable to get all of the Yemeni political, provincial and tribal components to take part in managing the affairs of the Yemeni state and regions from north to south and from west to east.

“This can be deemed as the most prominent demands required for confidence building between the two conflicting parties to reopen the Sana’a airport, the exchange of prisoners and achieving the necessary ceasefire in Hodeida, particularly since we know that the latter has been transformed into a major axis of war that currently governs the struggle among all parties.

“For its part, the Yemeni government is currently facing major economic problems, particularly in terms of paying the salaries of Yemenis in addition to extending the necessary assistance to the needy people.

“Such being the case, we expect major implications that shall face the Yemeni economy post the war and this requires the rebuilding of the infrastructure in all Yemeni regions. This issue will impose its presence even during the peaceful discussions irrespective of the shape of the Yemeni state be that a state that shall depend on a central government or will take the shape of federal state, given the fact that this issue represents the major ground that is tested during the Yemeni/ Yemeni national dialogue.

“But the most important question here is, as long as the Yemeni struggling parties have failed to seize the opportunity for solving the Yemeni-Yemeni conflict in the State of Kuwait by the support of the International Community (in 2016), although during that time Yemeni humanitarian situation had not reached the level of this deterioration, then why the Yemeni parties had failed to seize this opportunity?

“Anyway, it looks like a new opportunity is currently looming on the horizon that shall provide lifeline for the Yemenis, but the question here is, will this opportunity constitute a turning point in the Yemeni dossier for the sake of achieving the targeted peace? We hope so.”

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Dr Al-Mekaimi

“I don’t find even a single reason to justify the continuation of the civil war which currently takes place in Yemen,” columnist and director general and the editorin-chief of Sawt (Voice) Al-Arab Satellite TV Channel Dr Hesham Al-Diwan wrote for Al-Shahed daily.

“And I don’t know of a single realistic reason for the conditions that have been submitted by the so-called ‘legitimate government of Yemen’ calling for commitment to the terms of reference of the international resolutions.

“However, I think there is not even a single reasonable person that shall accept the relevant conditions. I am not a Houthi, and I have never known anyone of them throughout my life. Not just that, I have never hosted anyone of them during the televised programs presented by me on air nor which were recorded in London, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) or through the present ones in the State of Kuwait.

“But I am positive that even if they (the Houthis) are capable to manage the Yemeni State affairs in Sana’a as well as from tens of other Yemeni cities which are currently under their domination – not as occupiers, rather in their capacity as the sons of their country, it is needless to say they are capable at the moment to do so just because the current situation in Yemen looks abnormal.

“In other words, it is Yemen which currently suffers because of agendas imposed on them by the war and foreign interventions on behalf of the two warring parties which are currently involved in financing this war. Likewise, I am, positive any state not only Yemen, will need a qualified civil administration acceptable to the Yemeni people as well as the international community to rule Yemen.

“Such being the case, it will be impossible for ‘The Houthi Ansarullah Group’ to manage a country like Yemen under normal circumstances, simply because all of the states in the region will not accept them even if they represent a majority of the people there.”

“We are in a time that requires us to reach through our practical experiences the proper recipe for competitiveness, productivity and effective management, and modernize our plan to raise the ceiling of aspirations and security in a manner commensurate with our capabilities in terms of modernity and development,” columnist Dr Nada Suleiman Al Mutawa wrote for Al-Jarida daily.

“Recently, the public benefit associations competed in hosting speakers and workshops on the vision of Kuwait 2035, the last of which was a generous invitation from the Association of Socialists two days ago to attend a workshop on the same subject, which aims to invest in Kuwait’s status as a leading regional center and bet on developing visions for its financial, and institutional development.

“Looking at the pillars of the future plan will be as follows: Achieving a distinguished international standing; Work on providing advanced infrastructure; Investing in creative human capital; Transforming the current management style into a sophisticated government management model; provide quality health care; Push towards a sustainable diversified economy and Provide a sustainable living environment.

“If we try to reformulate the ideas put forward, we will find important points that have already been achieved, but we must raise the ceiling of the goals. The first point, the distinguished international position, for example, we have achieved in the past, and we enjoy it as characterized by Kuwait now, such as investing in diplomatic and technical training, or replacing the existing bureaucracy with a modern and flexible system that gives the diplomat the right decision-making mechanism without falling into the bureaucracy.

“As for the infrastructure, the effective strategic planning programs and realistic experiments bring us back to the stage where the state decided to build the new city without addressing the issue of potholes that were filled with water, along with houses and roads, in the city of Sabah Al-Ahmad and the Mangaf Bridge. So the plan needs ‘remedial’ dimensions in terms of infrastructure, to gain credibility.

“In terms of ‘creative human capital’, I believe that ‘talent’ has outpaced state speed in planning, has taken its place in social communication, and has become profit centers that the Ministry of Commerce has not been able to follow with laws regulated by the Ministry of Information.”

“Although there are those who tend to practice guardianship on human minds, the voices of logic are rising to reject censorship of society by trying to withhold sources of information, culture and reading,” columnist Dr Ghadir Al-Asiri wrote for Al-Qabas daily.

“We in Kuwait do not allow the discourse of skepticism in our behavior out of fear of breaking the customs and traditions, but with the openness of cyberspace it is logical to reject the censor’s methodology to prevent the exhibition of 4,390 books, on the basis of personal whims of certain people or based on the law of publications, that the publication of these books will harm the society. But this behavior deprives an individual from reading books that may cause some people to be relatively sensitive.

“The beginning of the ban was not the enactment of the Press and Publications Law in 2006. In the light of the Kuwait International Book Fair in 1997, the government submitted its resignation after political questioning about allowing the circulation and sale of some books.

“The methodology of societal skeptics is always the enforcement of laws based on the assumption of the worst and the negative factor, not on morality and the building of a just and clean human being. Therefore we witness the collapse of societies because they deal with the laws that are based on bad intentions. This creates a backward contradictory society dealing with the individual on a purely negative basis.

“All this is contrary to the fundamentals of development, construction and confidence in the human resource. Doubt always breaks the human from within and implants the disease in the individuals’ personalities.

“Returning to books, censorship is often random and does not follow clear criteria. Many books may be subject to the censor’s temperament, which may prevent it from fear of its titles or because of personal disputes with the author. The worst is that some of them were allowed in the past and now prevented without clear reasons.”

“The Arabs hate war and seek peace, while each country is satisfied with its borders and does not aspire to expand. One of the main reasons for the outbreak of war is the desire of some countries to control their neighbors, forcing countries to defend their territories,” columnist Dr Abdulmohsen Hamadeh wrote for Al-Qabas daily.

“This is what happened after the revolution of Iran, where the leaders announced their intention to export their revolution and the dissemination of its principles in neighboring countries, which they included in their constitution.

“This means that they will interfere in the affairs of other countries. To achieve this goal, they have established militias and parties in some neighboring countries loyal to them and spent billions of Iranian people’s money on them. Then they began to claim that the decision in four Arab countries was in their hands, that they were seeking more, and that the return of the Persian Empire was close at hand.

“Under these circumstances, the Yemeni war broke out. Tehran was able to contact the Houthis, a Yemeni people, and persuaded them to cooperate with it to enable it to rule Yemen.

“Unfortunately, the Houthis were deceived and Tehran began to prepare them militarily and shipped them war material while creating in them a replica of Lebanese Hezbollah. The Houthis came to Sana’a laden with Iranian thought, chanting slogans of the Iranian revolution, raising their slogans, and under the name of (Ansar Allah) Allah’s supporters.

“Yemen’s legitimate government tried to reach an understanding with them, but to no avail. They rejected the principle of a government of national reconciliation and insisted on monopolizing the government. Through their alliance with former Yemeni President Ali Saleh, they managed to control most of the Yemeni state’s territory, forcing the legitimate government to exile in Riyadh.

“The former president Ali Abdullah Saleh called for his alliance with the Houthis – the alliance of necessity, but tried to get rid of them, and called the Yemenis, in a statement on Yemen’s Al-Yawm Channel, to give the gift of one man to defend Yemen against Houthi elements loyal to Iran, which was tampering with Yemen.

“There were armed clashes between his forces and Houthis. He called for opening a new page with neighboring countries. But the legitimate forces did not act and as a result Saleh was assassinated.”

— Compiled by Zaki Taleb