Every Friday, the opposition organizes the noon prayer on 60-Meter Road outside the University of Science and Technology Hospital. The number of participants various widely depending on the political situation. Friday, April 13th is one of the lighter days with festival-like atmosphere. Even the soldiers were relaxed enough to pose for pictures with kids. The day was named Friday of “Loyalty to Abyan”, the province that has seen the heaviest fighting between the Yemeni army and militants calling themselves Ansar al-Sharia – Partisans of Sharia Law.
By now you probably have read about the armed conflicts and persistent power outages in Yemen, but to Sana’a residents, the most pressing problem at the moment is the mounting garbage due to the strike by garbage collectors and street cleaners who are demanding salaried positions instead of daily wages. I saw one garbage truck on Hadda Street today, does it mean the strike is about to end?
This was how my friend described yesterday. We had no electricity and it pretty much rained all day yesterday. In the years past I had always enjoyed the rain because it kept the temperature cool and presented interesting skies for photography, but this year with all the depressing news coming out of Yemen, the gloomy sky just added another layer of melancholy.
The following table compares prices of common products and services in Yemen between August 2010 and March 2012. Fuel and imported food items saw the most increase while locally grown food pretty much stayed the same. “Luxury” food such as meat was already priced out of the range of average consumers thus didn’t increase much. Qat and internet prices are lower than when I was here last time.
Last week I took a short trip to Ramlat as Saba’tayn in Marib just southeast of Safir. See photos from my earlier post. The desert area is part of the Empty Quarter, but it is not as desolate as one might think. In addition to Bedouin settlements there are numerous oil and electricity facilities dotting the region. At night, their lights can be seen glowing over the sand dunes from miles away.
Ever since the conflict began in January 2011, anti-government protesters have occupied the area in front of the main gate of Sana’a University. Traditionally, the Liberation Square (Maidan Al Tahrir) has been THE place to gather and protest but it was occupied by government supporters, so protesters, mostly university students in the beginning, settled on occupying the ring road in front of the university. They named the place Change Square, but it really is a big intersection surrounded by businesses and residential buildings.
Here are some photos from my latest trip to Ramalat as Sabatayn, Marib.
Hind 2012 6 photos Hind's new family lives only blocks away from the worst fighting that took place between the government troops and Al Ahmar family in May, 2010. During the week of intense fighting in May 2010, residents were too afraid to get out of the house to get food. Hind survived it on [...]
Change Square, Sana'a, Yemen 19 photos At 9AM, the qat seller is already getting ready to do business. Nothing really changes at Change Square. ساحة التغيير بصنعاء اليمن Since the election of the new president, nothing much is going on in Change Square these days. It looks more like a market than a political gathering. [...]
The latest news out of Yemen is that militants led by Tariq Al-Zahab (طارق الذهب), who has family ties to Anwar al-Awlaki, took over the town of Rada'a (رداع) and occupied the famous al Amiriya mosque and madrasa. The locals complained that the military, with their tanks and armored vehicles stationed nearby, let the militants [...]
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