Saturday Special: Helping Yemen?
Saturday, January 23, 2010 at 7:48 
As talk heats up about US intervention in the Yemen in the prosecution of "War of Terror", on top of the political and economic contests that have occupied the country for decades, Nadia Hijab writes for Agence Global:
It was the fall of 2005, and we were sitting in the former minister of planning’s large office -- “we” being two international consultants and the local representative of an international development agency. We were there to evaluate a $200,000 project to strengthen human rights.
The minister responded to all our questions with that sharp intelligence characteristic of so many Yemenis, but also politely wondered why we were there at all. He gently reminded us that earlier that year leaders from developed and developing nations had adopted the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, a resounding commitment to respect national leadership and to coordinate aid accordingly. Why was he being asked to spend his time on a small, standalone, donor-driven project? A little shame-faced, we nevertheless pressed on with our agenda -- and on to our meeting with the minister of human rights.