[08/February/2010]

SANA'A, Feb. 08 (Saba) –Election fraud has negatively been reflected on Yemen's security, as  hundreds of African refugees, mostly Somalis, are now roaming the country with Yemeni IDs and vote cards, an investigative report has said.

The report by the Investigation Department at Yemen News Agency Saba that was published in Alsyasiah Newspaper on Sunday cited an Ethiopian refugee as saying that he was collecting YR 100000 to overcome the roadblocks to having his Yemeni ID, including obtaining a phone number.

Somali refugees who could get Yemeni IDs said they are living in special houses that were built for the marginalized people in the country.

We were also behind the win of a candidate for 2003 parliamentary elections in Yemen, they claimed.

On the main reason for granting Yemeni IDs for African refugees, a security official said that competition among  political parties was mainly blamed for Yemeni IDs with Africans.

Not only elections are the reason for forging the Yemeni ID or having it, but also other deep-rooted problems in Yemen such as revenge among tribes, murders, terrorism and drug trade are boosting, the report noted.

Additionally, some expatriates attribute themselves to Yemeni families to be able to go to other countries, the report said.

Head of the Civil Affairs Authority at the Interior Ministry Abu Bakr al-Amoudi said using an electoral card as a document to officially recognize a person is illegal.

Authorities which issue the cards must be held accountable, he said, adding that the authority will issue a circular to clarify the misconception of the measure.

For his part, head of the Legislation Department at the Legal Affairs Ministry Abdullah Barakat said that the electoral cards must be granted through IDs but not the reverse.

The laws on civil affairs never contained that an electoral card can be used as a reason for having an ID, he said.

Yemen says there are more than 700000 African refugees in it, who arrived in almost daily numbers in years  fleeing poverty and conflicts in their Horn of Africa countries.

'More than 74,000 Africans, fleeing civil war, political instability, poverty, famine and drought in the Horn of Africa, crossed the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea on smugglers' boats and reached the shores of Yemen last year,' according to the UNHCR.

FR
Saba