Jane Ferguson

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By Jane Ferguson in Middle East on May 24th, 2012
A suicide bomber wearing an army uniform blew himself up on 21 May in the deadliest attack in the capital for years [EPA]

I remember Yemen before the bombs.

In fact, I spent four of the best months of my life here: blissfully careering through mountains, banana fields and shore-lined plains in an old Toyota Corolla with several other Westerners.

“Welcome in Yemen!” was a phrase shouted from teashop counters, truck stop shops and the occasional passerby in the street. It always made me smile so much I didn't have the heart to correct the grammar.

I was supposed to be studying Arabic, and much to my devoted teacher Saeed's despair, preferred often to skip class for trips into the mountains and days spent wandering aimlessly in Sana'a's ancient Old City.

The Arabic school is closed now and Saeed has changed his phone number - I have no idea how he is feeding his family anymore. I no longer wander aimlessly anywhere in town when I visit.

By Jane Ferguson in Middle East on May 21st, 2012
Yemeni military police collect evidence at the site of a suicide bomb attack in Sanaa on May 21, 2012. [AFP]

From a few kilometres across town, the blast sounded like a muffled thump - the grim reality of an explosion going off inside a packed crowd.

Sitting under fruit trees in a beautiful garden in Sanaa, my Yemeni companions looked up from their cups of tea and waited for the sound of gunfire to follow.

When they did not, we all settled back into our conversation.

We had no idea from our leafy oasis that the worst single terror attack in Yemen's history had just occurred.

Within 30 minutes, we were driving back to our hotel crammed into the usual chronic traffic. The sound of ambulance sirens screamed past us.

An al-Qaeda suicide bomber had just pulled off a ruthlessly symbolic attack at a rehearsal for Tuesday's National Day military parade.

Menacing group

The parade was supposed to celebrate Yemen's unification since 1990, when a war between the north and south ended in northern victory.

By Jane Ferguson in Middle East on April 20th, 2012

The whole team was shocked. We knew we were looking for evidence of child hunger, but we never expected skeletal babies - close to death.

Yemen has had massive food security problems for years.

The list goes on forever: lack of water, productive land used to grow Qat – the narcotic plant people here chew daily – instead of food, economic dysfunction, and a population explosion. They were always leading to disaster.

Violence and chaos across Yemen since the country's revolution started last January, has been the last straw for the Arab world's poorest country. Such chaos reaches into the lives, and pockets, of poor, rural villagers.

Electricity has been cut, roads closed, and as a result, employment levels have plummeted.

Dr Hanaa Aladini works at the Sebeen Hospital in Sana'a, and was keen to show us the children she is treating.

By Jane Ferguson in Middle East on April 19th, 2012

If the last time you glanced at the news from Yemen there was talk of a youth-led revolution, then you could be forgiven for being confused.

Talk of overthrowing a president has now been replaced with talk of "power sharing".

The streets of Sanaa have been largely cleared of the countless checkpoints from late last year. Back then, guns were everywhere - government troops, renegade troops, pro-Saleh tribesmen, and what seemed like just about anyone with an AK47, lounged in street doorways or on the back of pick-up trucks.

There are much less of them now, but some are still here. Un-uniformed men with automatic rifles loiter, betraying the truth of a peace deal that still hangs in the balance.

By Jane Ferguson in Middle East on February 5th, 2012

Within half an hour of arriving at the activists’ office in Homs, I was in a car and careering past the sound of sniper fire.

These citizen journalists wanted to waste no time in showing an international reporter what they’re up against.

Climbing the stairs of an abandoned building, they push forward in front of me with their small, hand-held video cameras.

While this area of the city - Bab Amr - has been pounded by President Assad’s tanks, almost all of the footage seen on the world’s TV screens has come from this small team of self-made cameramen.

The Arab Spring has clearly shown revolutionaries that they can fight an aggressive government by exposing it to the outside world.

But in that regard, Syria is very different from Egypt, Yemen, or Libya where access for foreign journalists was tough, but by no means impossible.

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