Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
UAE
The UAE is a very safe country to visit with little other to worry about than the high incidence of fatality on the roads
(nearly 10 times that of the UK). Visitors also underestimate the strength of the current in the Gulf off the UAE coast;
local guidelines should be observed.
Yemen
The determined and fierce crack-down on terrorism over the past few years in Saudi Arabia led to many Al-Qaeda milit-
ants finding a safe haven in Yemen, a country that has been teetering on the brink of failed-nation status for two decades
or more. With a separatist insurgency in the south, a Shiite rebellion in the north, wide unemployment, an agricultural
crisis and almost the entire adult male population addicted to qat (a mildly narcotic plant), the government is struggling
to cope with the added pressure from Al-Qaeda. In addition, the uprising during the Arab Spring of 2011, resulting in
the ousting of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, has given another challenge to the weakened authorities.
As the much publicised home of Osama bin Laden's father, and as the place from which the War on Terror was
launched after the suicide bombing of the USS Cole in the port of Aden in 2000, Yemen has become what some com-
mentators have called a 'spiritual homeland' for released Guantanamo detainees and other Islamic extremists. At the
time of writing, the chief of security in the US Embassy in Yemen had just been assassinated (October 2012) and a
bounty placed on the head of the US Ambassador by Al-Qaeda (December 2012). In response US drone attacks, suppor-
ted by the Saudi government, have continued into 2013.
Small groups of tourists and individual travellers are beginning to return to Sana'a, either oblivious or unmindful of
the threats to their safety, but given the political instabilities, travellers who have no reason to go to Yemen must ask
themselves if now is the best time for a visit. Travellers should understand, furthermore, that they run a very real risk of
being kidnapped. Western hostages are considered useful currency as bargaining power for the release of political pris-
oners by extremists as well as for extortion by local bandits. Lonely Planet did not conduct on-the-ground research in
Yemen for this guidebook due to security concerns.
 
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