Yemen appoints first woman as Foreign Minister
First, I must apologize to all my Northern Yemeni brothers for an article I wrote several years ago in the Kuwaiti newspaper “Al-Watan,” during the height of the rift between North and South Yemen. In that piece, I described the North as a backward state, while portraying the South as an active, educated, and open people. I regret my role in fueling this North-South conflict.
Despite the relative calm, embers still glow beneath the ashes. The reality is that there is no solution other than separating the South from the North, allowing each to return to its historical and natural context. In truth, certain realities cannot be transcended or altered; imposing something else is futile, as many factors and assumptions shape the nature of each society.
You may attempt the impossible, but you will never achieve idealism. The current calm between North and South Yemen is not an ideal solution to a protracted issue that has consumed many years of our lives.
References
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Ali Abdullah Saleh, the politician who described himself as someone who dodges, wavers, and dances on the heads of snakes—this in itself is a foolish political game that plunged Yemen, both North and South, into a conflict that should never have occurred in a country plagued by poverty and backwardness, compounded by external interventions.
Incidentally, neither North nor South Yemen is poor. Beneath the soil lies wealth that makes Yemen a rich country, even competitive with its affluent Gulf neighbors. There are abundant hidden resources beneath the earth: oil, gas, and gold. Moreover, the strategic location of the two Yemens, with their seas and marine resources, makes them objects of envy and ambition.
Yemenis are a smart people. However, the underlying social structure, rooted in the tribal system, has contributed to the image of backwardness. Yemenis have migrated to America, Britain, Germany, and Asian countries, where they have succeeded and built industrial communities.
These are the descendants of the ancient Sabaean and Himyarite peoples. It is time for Yemenis to restore the dignity and civilization that preceded ancient civilizations in Iraq, Persia, and Egypt. This is not impossible; with good intentions, miracles can be created.
From this perspective, I believe that appointing a woman to lead foreign policy in modern times is the first step toward reviving Yemen’s historical and civilizational legacy. In my view, no Arab country has previously appointed a female foreign minister. This position has traditionally been monopolized by men, as if men alone are capable of solving miracles and resolving disputes, while we are taught by ancient myths that cunning and guile are women’s traits. Wasn’t Scheherazade the wisest of women, saving herself and others from a king who harbored hatred toward all women, by using the cunning of a cunning and playful woman?
Yemen is returning to the era of civilization it once lost, after being held back by egoists and backward elements in the land of Queen Bilqis and the “Happy Yemen.” Yemen is promised an unprecedented civilizational revolution. It is the civilization of Yemen and a history that renews itself.
A Kuwaiti journalist
