Photographic perspectives.
Nile Bowie
RT- NileBowie.blogspot.com
November 3, 2012
A year on from the Arab Spring, supposed to usher in a new era for Yemen, for most it is a perilous time. With no clear direction, it is plagued by instability and lawlessness, allowing it to fall prey to further US military expansion.
The unrest brought about by the Arab Spring triggered numerous political transitions throughout the Middle East and North Africa in 2011. In Yemen, the only state in the Arabian Peninsula to have a republican form of government, President Ali Abdullah Saleh was deposed after 33 years in power, and replaced by his deputy, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.
After nearly a year since this political transition, Yemen continues to face food insecurity, impoverishment and the threat of violent extremism from Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and other Islamist militias. Guns are everywhere in the country’s capital, Sana’a, and several government ministries are abandoned and riddled with bullet holes. Once frequented by foreign tourists, political instability has left Yemen’s rich historical sites abandoned.
In the country’s sparsely-populated and oil-rich south, formerly known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Yemen, citizens of the once-communist state advocate separatism and independence from unified Yemen.
While many argue that 2011’s political transition failed to produce any tangible change in direction, the United States has backed the new administration and continues to implement a program of drone strikes in Yemen’s rural areas, despite reports of substantial civilian causalities. While the country continues to be plagued by instability and lawlessness, a cloud of uncertainty hangs over Yemen as Washington eyes to further increase its military presence in the Arab state.
Nile Bowie
RT- NileBowie.blogspot.com
November 3, 2012
A year on from the Arab Spring, supposed to usher in a new era for Yemen, for most it is a perilous time. With no clear direction, it is plagued by instability and lawlessness, allowing it to fall prey to further US military expansion.
The unrest brought about by the Arab Spring triggered numerous political transitions throughout the Middle East and North Africa in 2011. In Yemen, the only state in the Arabian Peninsula to have a republican form of government, President Ali Abdullah Saleh was deposed after 33 years in power, and replaced by his deputy, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.
After nearly a year since this political transition, Yemen continues to face food insecurity, impoverishment and the threat of violent extremism from Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and other Islamist militias. Guns are everywhere in the country’s capital, Sana’a, and several government ministries are abandoned and riddled with bullet holes. Once frequented by foreign tourists, political instability has left Yemen’s rich historical sites abandoned.
In the country’s sparsely-populated and oil-rich south, formerly known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Yemen, citizens of the once-communist state advocate separatism and independence from unified Yemen.
While many argue that 2011’s political transition failed to produce any tangible change in direction, the United States has backed the new administration and continues to implement a program of drone strikes in Yemen’s rural areas, despite reports of substantial civilian causalities. While the country continues to be plagued by instability and lawlessness, a cloud of uncertainty hangs over Yemen as Washington eyes to further increase its military presence in the Arab state.
A
portrait of deposed President Ali Abdullah Saleh hangs from an
abandoned government ministry in the Hassaba district in downtown
Sana'a. (Photo by Nile Bowie)
Worshipers
pass time in an alleyway nearby a mosque in the old city of Sana’a
below flyers depicting Yemen’s current President Abd Rabbuh Mansur
Al-Hadi. (Photo by Nile Bowie)
Property
in downtown Sana’a has been deserted since being damaged in fighting
between government forces and tribal militias during 2011’s unrest.
(Photo by Nile Bowie)
Former
President Saleh remains a revered figure among many the poor and
merchant classes, as his photograph and propaganda can be seen hung in
small businesses throughout the capital. (Photo by Nile Bowie)
Yemen’s derelict Ministry of Industry & Trade in ruins following the Arab Spring. (Photo by Nile Bowie)
Life has returned to normal in inner city communities almost a year after the ouster of President Saleh. (Photo by Nile Bowie)
The
destruction of Yemen’s state-run Public Corporation for Agricultural
Services and other institutions like it pose difficult challenges for
Yemeni leadership in providing services and steering economic activity.
(Photo by Nile Bowie)
The
sale of Khat, an amphetamine-like stimulant and appetite suppressant,
is the backbone of Yemen’s economy; users often chew leaves until their
cheeks become enflamed. (Photo by Nile Bowie)
Economic
activity in rural areas relies almost entirely on the cultivation and
sale of Khat; an elderly man walks to the local Khat dealer in Wadi
Dhahr. (Photo by Nile Bowie)
Scenes
of urban poverty are commonplace in Sana’a, one of the oldest populated
places in the world, as the Hadi administration struggles to enforce
order. (Photo by Nile Bowie)
Beggars live in abandoned automobiles on the outskirts of Sana’a. (Photo by Nile Bowie)
The
pristine Saleh Mosque, the largest and most modern mosque in the
country, was constructed by Yemen’s former president and holds 40,000
people. (Photo by Nile Bowie)
Yemen’s
Saleh Mosque has come under criticism for its apparent size and
opulence; $60 million was spent on the mosque’s construction despite the
nation’s austere poverty. (Photo by Nile Bowie)
A
Yemeni solider examines photographs of victims of a suicide bombing
that killed 90 people at a military parade rehearsal in Yemen's capital
in May 2012; Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is accused of
carrying out the attack. (Photo by Nile Bowie)
Customers sit outside a fish market on Socotra Island waiting for the day’s catch. (Photo by Nile Bowie)
A
Socotran fisherman converses with a customer in Soqotri, an ancient
unwritten language of pre-Islamic origin. (Photo by Nile Bowie)
In
2010, Yemen’s government allowed the United States to militarize
Socotra Island to combat Somali pirates, despite the area being
recognized by (UNESCO) as a World Natural Heritage Site for its
biodiversity. (Photo by Nile Bowie)
Socotra
has experienced the near-collapse of its tourism industry since 2011’s
unrest; the island is located at the crossroads of strategic naval
waterways and major oil transit routes through the Red Sea and the Gulf
of Aden. (Photo by Nile Bowie)
The
flag of the Democratic People’s Republic of Yemen painted on a roadside
in Socotra reading, “Yes to the South!” (Photo by Nile Bowie)
Socotra
is historically known for its rare and spectacular plant species, many
with no equivalents available anywhere else in the world, such as the
Dragon Blood tree. (Photo by Nile Bowie)
A
nomadic girl sells sap from the Dragon Blood tree, which is used as a
medicine among a variety of other things. (Photo by Nile Bowie)
Nile Bowie for RT
