A report from Saba, the official Yemeni news agency, on the 15th anniversary of the north’s victory in the 1994 war:

Subversives attacked Tuesday security forces and people in Yemen's eastern province of Hadramout killing a citizen and injuring two soldiers, the state-run 26sep.net has reported.

The attack occurred when police in the eastern parts of the province intervened and prevented rioters from committing further sabotage acts which even affected the public properties. Another citizen was injured as well. Sources in the province were cited as saying that subversives burned a commercial store and attacked vendors.

Away from Hadramout, rioters in Mukalla poured on to the streets on Tuesday, burning tiers [tyres] and chanting anti-unity slogans. Several arrests took place and police were investigating. 

In Dhale, eyewitnesses said subversives blocked the Dhale-Aden road for the second time in almost a week and fired at security forces. No injuries were reported. Shootings at random forced tens of cars passing in the area to stop and avoid being hurt. 

If this is the officially-approved version of events, I dread to think what an unofficial version might be like.

Meanwhile the World Food Program has appealed for urgent food aid to address “critical levels of hunger and malnutrition in Yemen,” according to the Yemen Times.

“Volatile food and fuel prices combined with conflict and natural disasters over the past years have severely affected the country, leaving more than one in three Yemenis suffering from chronic hunger,” said WFP representative Gian Carlo Cirri. 

The Yemen Times also gives a simple breakdown of the national budget:

Subsidising oil prices: 30%
Government salaries: 60%
Health, education (and everything else): 10%

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 10 July 2009