A trip around Aden is an interesting experience. Upon leaving the airport, you enter an area called Khomaskar. This is where many of the British lived and the area is divided up into categories of housing. The poshest bits were ’area A’, the not so posh, area ’B’ etc. Parts of these areas were then redeveloped by the Russians. The whole place is like Southport meets Stalingrad. Imagine being dropped into a Butlin’s campsite circa 1960. Then imagine the Russian’s provided the Red Coats who decided to add their own buildings based on communist designs of the same period. Recently the rich Yemenis have decided to begin building their own idea of a luxury villa with green glass windows. Amongst this insane aesthetic the government and NGOs have taken accomodation in what was area A and the Adenis and African immigrants are in area B.

Aden seems to stretch for miles, wrapping itself to the contours of mountains and the shape of the natural harbour, stretching from the area where the Sheraton Hotel is now (elephant bay) to the south west, Little Aden. In the middle, high up amongst the volcanic detritus, lies Crater, and at the waters edge, Steamer Point.

Crater is like most Yemeni towns. It has the classic Yemen High Street. Sweet shops, tea shops, phonecard shops, shoe shops etc etc. Most women wear niqab. If recent reports are to be believed, Crater is currently seething with tension and a tourist could find themselves the unwilling recipient of some unwanted temporary accommodation. I was there recently, late at night and cant say i felt in danger.

Steamer Point and the surroundings are very un-Yemen. As Barron says, there is the old Rolex shop opposite the customs house, a few trinket shops and some very Victorian era buildings that give the area an odd ’villagey’ feel. An electricity substation looks like a Brunel designed train station. There is the ’little ben’ clocktower and a couple of churches – active and with a congregation. You will also find the ’Sailor’s Club’, where you can sup a cold Heineken and enjoy the amiable company of Yemenis who have very happy memories of the British, fish and chips (still available), Bobby Moore and can tell you the history of the British Royal Family. At night, things can get a bit wilder, but that’s a story for another post.

Why is it that after the violent end to the British rule, many Adenis have fond memories of the British time in Aden? The Russians weren’t that great perhaps – though i meet many a Yemeni who can speak Russian and had free education back in Moscow. Perhaps many Adenis have reached that age where in the past the sun always shone and there was never a grey day – though in Aden that is always the case, but i hope you get my point. I hear most Adenis who can remember the British, wish they never left, that had the Brits stayed, South Yemen would be in the Commonwealth and sharing the associated benefits. When the Queen visited in the early 50s, just after her Coronation, she was a young woman. Over the last 50 plus years, the Adenis have seen her mature and become a worldwide respected figure. Perhaps they feel they have missed that. Perhaps they still want that…..

Just before Ramadan 2007, the tension between Aden and the Sana’a based government grew tighter, something ’serious’ could have happened. Thankfully it didn’t. A recent protest planned to coincide with the anniversary of the end of British colonial rule was cancelled. President Saleh went to Aden to reassure the Adenis that he has their best interests at heart and to continue believing in a unified Yemen. The winter months see the government relocate from the colder Sana’a to the more bearable warmth of the Aden winter so one should hope that this helps with dialogue between the two sides.

This blog is about mixing adventure, strange places and entrepreneurship. Interestingly, Barron touches on this. He says,

“But the failure for two decades to repair one of Aden’s most prominent, historic landmarks reveals the inertia today and the lack of entrepreneurial instincts. Maybe that commercial spirit sailed away with the British – and whatever remained was destroyed by the revolutionary regime.”

I agree with this. Aden has missed out. Aden should be like many of the world’s cities-by-the-sea: cosmopolitan, energetic, romantic and buzzing. All this is there but behind a faded and tarnished facade inhabited by a bitter and unsatisfied populace. The Qat chews with fellow entrepreneurs in Sana’a are full of ideas for Aden: “Aden could be this..”, “Aden could be that…”, “Aden should be this….”, “we should sort Aden out”. And that is just it. How does one sort Aden out? One has to hope that it isnt done through arms and violence, but through enterprise and entrepreneurship. There are plans for Aden’s port, a free zone and various other infrastructure improvements. They need to be realised sooner rather than later, for Aden’s sake.

Technorati Tags: Our Stories, Yemen, Aden, Yemen, Brian barron, Bbc
Technorati Tags: Our Stories, Yemen

Brian Barron has a segment within the latest FOOC program on 24/11/07. You can read it / download it

For anyone who just reads or downloads it here’s my smackdown to a story that does nothing but enhance the ’failed state’ image that has plagued Yemen.

Anyone who has spent time in Yemen will know that:

• you can buy good quality footwear for a lot less than $90! Brian, you were in Yemen 40 years ago..you shouldnt be wearing your best brogues!
• there are new laws banning the bearing of weapons for all but those with special permits or the military
• the weapons souks where you used to be able to buy AK47s etc are now closed. If they arent, someone please let me know which are still running because Barron seems to know some info that makes me want to go and get myself a ’customised AK47’!
• the “enormous set of mobile airport steps that had the shakes” dont exist and if they did how the hell would women wearing balto holding children manage to walk down them?!

Not only that, but i also question where Brian Barron gets his evidence for saying that there is an ’ambivalence about Al-Qaeda across Yemen’. Barron goes on to describe ’fit looking military veterans carrying backpacks full of weapons and communications gear’. I have lived here for over a year, with no close protection and the only action men figures i see are wrapped in plastic, made in China and are for sale in Shumaila Hari (a supermarket like WalMart or Tescos)! Brian, this is Sana’a not Baghdad!

Barron goes on to say that Oil revenues are drying up. Er, hold on a minute, hasnt there just been a load of oil blocks awarded to a multitude of companies for drilling, extraction, refining and selling? According to Barron, ’corruption is allegedly on a huge scale’, come on Brian, make the allegations. Tell us what you know. Or maybe it would be better to tell the world what you DO know about how the Yemen Government is looking to fight it. The Yemen government is rapidly and energetically implementing new measures for more transparency in all government business and procurement procedures.

Barron mentions ’the failed states’ of Somalia and Ethiopia in a cute journalistic way to build image association. Somalia is a failed state that occupies its own category. Ethiopia has long shaken its starved, famined image of the 80s. Yemen has nothing in common with either of them. Moreover, Barron builds the negative image of Yemen by making associations with the ’rich neighbours’ of UAE, Saudi etc. And no Brian, i dont see what you mean by Yemen being ’just north of south’.

So, what is there in this article / broadcast that us Yemen-dwellers can relate to?

The suicide bombing of the Spanish tourists in Marib was a terrible event. Thankfully all the protagonists seems to have been captured or even killed. This seems to have been a one off and there has been no kidnappings at all in the last few years. Movement in Yemen is closely monitored by a protective net of checkpoints and the intelligence services have their ear to the ground. Indeed there are concerns about the water supply.

Qat agriculture sees to that. But it is a problem all in Yemen are acutely aware of and are dealing with. The Old City of Sana’a IS a captivating labyrinth of souks. It’s a UNESCO world heritage site. There is also a population explosion which will see the population double in a very shortspace of time and of course the government should be planning to deal with it.

Anyone who spends more than 48 hours in this amazing country will know that they are not in the middle of the hell that is Iraq, the tribal and uncontrollable Afghanistan or the lawless bullet fest that is Somalia. They will also realise that they arent in Jeddha, Dubai or Doha. Yemen’s time will come. And so should anyone else with the slightest interest in pursuing new business opportunities, experiencing a new and exciting tourist destination or to just feel the warm welcome of the unique Yemeni people.

Technorati Tags: General, Our Stories, Yemen