Terra Daily via UPI: Two people were killed recently in a dispute over water rights in Yemen where extreme water scarcity is arguably the violence-plagued country's greatest crisis. With the ancient capital, Sanaa, expected to run dry in a few years, water shortages are stirring popular discontent and fueling growing political unrest in the country that lies at the southwestern tip of the Arabian Peninsula.The government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, preoccupied with a simmering tribal rebellion in the north, an increasingly violent secessionist movement in the south, al-Qaida terrorism, a faltering economy and fast-disappearing oil reserves, appears to be helpless in the face of this accumulation of adversity.
If the country collapses, it would have strategic repercussions around the entire region, including providing a breeding ground and sanctuary for al-Qaida adjacent to Saudi Arabia, the world's leading oil producer. The killings in southern district of Shara'ab in May resulted from a standoff between security forces and villagers who wanted to drill a new well because others were running dry….
High-rises at Shibam, Wadi Hadhramaut (or Hadhramout, Hadramawt) Yemen. Shot by Jialiang Gao www.peace-on-earth.org, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 License
No comments:
Post a Comment