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| Meeting between Yemeni President Hadi and U.S. President Obama to discuss mutual cooperation between both allies (Photo credit: The White House) |
WASHINGTON: A U.N. Special Envoy arrived in Washington
today to help a country on the brink of chaos.
The delegation, composed of Special Adviser to Secretary-General on
Yemen, Jamal Benomar, along with Yemeni experts and tribal
leaders, will share their knowledge on dialogue and conflict resolution.
“Given our ongoing support to Yemen, we believe it’s
only fair that the Yemenis help us with the technical assistance; that we in
fact paid for.” said State Department Deputy Secretary John Smith.
The
US recently ended the government
shutdown from October 1 – 17, after Congress failed to enact legislation
for appropriations for fiscal year 2014.
The 16 day shutdown is the third longest in U.S. history.
During
the shutdown, about 800,000 federal employees were indefinitely furloughed, another
1.3 million were required to report to work without known payment dates, and
many services such as the post offices, and park services were suspended or
curtailed. Analysts
at IHS Global Insight calculated that it knocked $300 million a day off US
economic output.
Based
on Yemen’s reported successful National Dialogue
process, the Yemeni delegation will train their American counterparts on
how to create an inclusive national dialogue process that engages both the
Democrats and the Republicans, in addition to representatives from the Texas Nationalist Movement and the Alaskan
Independent party, in an intense and long discussion on important topics. The main issues to be discussed will include
healthcare, gun control, military spending, women’s rights, and also unresolved
historic grievances threatening the unity of the country, since the civil war
between the north and the south, in the 19th century.
Secretary Smith had previously praised Yemen's
democratic transition and national dialogue conference, a process where the U.S. spent $10.5 million in assistance.
Given
the bleak economic conditions of the U.S. today, it is highly likely that the
U.N. will secure a trust fund to support the U.S. national dialogue
process. “Don’t bother raising funds from
your own budget, the U.N. will gladly do it for you” said Ahmed Al-Ahmed, a
member of the Yemeni delegation to a U.S. official . “You obviously will not resolve the deep
issues, just make it look like you will” he added.
During
the shutdown, employees forced to stop working, worried about the looming
impact of this shutdown, and many citizens felt caught between the tug of war
between the two parties. The tension
resulted in a number of unsettling events; including the self-immolation
of a man at the national mall in Washington D.C., and the killing of an unarmed
mother suffering from postpartum
depression after a car chase from the White House while her toddler was in
the car.
Known
for it’s long tradition of dialogue and conflict resolution, the Yemeni experts will also train various
selected neighborhood watches on how to secure their communities through local
committees in the event there is another government shutdown; and in
order to avoid a repeat of such actions or an escalation of tensions between
the two political parties in conflict.
For
centuries, numerous parts of Yemen relied on tribal law to handle conflicts
between various entities, as they were able to preserve order and security in
the areas with no government presence.
The
U.S. has the highest number of guns per capita in the world, and is home to Timothy
McVeigh and Terry Nichols; the perpetrators of the Oklahoma
bombing that killed 168 people on April 19, 1995.
***
While
inspired by true events such as the U.S. government shutdown and Yemen’s
national dialogue process; much of what is written is fabricated and only intended
as a satirical piece.
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