Yemen's real counterterrorism campaign: democracy

President Ali Abdullah Saleh leans forward and taps a small wooden baton on his polished shoe, as the sweet white smoke of frankincense swirls in the air. Flanked by four well-dressed aides, his eyes wander past four immense gold and silver horse statues to the big-screen TV in the corner of the red room. A report on Yemen is airing. It is about terrorism.

The eyes of the world have suddenly focused on Yemen. With the US claiming this country is home to at least 20 Al Qaeda operatives and thousands of their supporters, and with suspects in several terror attacks - including the Sept. 11th events - hailing from here, the US and its allies want to know what President Saleh is going to do about it.

In an interview, the president answers this question by listing his recent initiatives: tracking down some 23 suspected Al Qaeda operatives in the desert, closing hundreds of religious institutions suspected of nurturing extremists, monitoring people coming and going from the country, and cooperating fully with US counterterrorism investigations.

But the biggest initiative in counteracting the root causes of terrorism, he says, has been going on since he took office in 1978: developing the nation's economy and democratic institutions.

Yemen is the only Gulf Arab country that has embraced multiparty democracy. It sponsors democracy education, allows women the vote, televises parliamentary debates, and allows broad press freedoms. Since 1990, when the traditionalist and free-market North united with the Marxist South to become the Republic of Yemen, the country has had two parliamentary elections and one presidential election.

"Just 40 years ago," says James Rawley, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) representative here, "Yemen was a medieval theocracy with the Imam running the show. Suffice it to say, progress made since then is rather impressive."

Saleh waves away an offer of sweet tea, and explains: "Choosing democracy was an irreversible political choice. And it was not the ruler - me - who set in motion this experiment, but rather all the political parties who together agreed to it."

While Saleh did not choose the system, many here credit him with advancing it. Saleh ran for office in the north in 1978, after leaders of the north and south had been killed off or run out of the country.

By all accounts - including Saleh's - Yemen's reforms have been riddled with imperfection. "It's like a learning experience - a school," he admits. "We are learning daily and getting better."

Observers say this process of democratization is key to reducing the motivations for terrorism.

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