qat market in the Cheikh Othman area of Aden

Qat sales tripled on the eve of American Elections
by Mohammed al-Kibsi, Yemen Observer, Nov 5, 2008 – 2:05:47 AM

For the first time in Yemen’s history Yemenis at large spent the Wednesday’s night till Wednesday morning following up the American elections results. Abdul-Ghani al-Kazan a Yemeni lawyer said he didn’t sleep the whole night till the results were released and till Obama displayed the winning speech at 7 :30 am Sana’a local time.

Ali al-Thawr a qat dealer said he sold four folds of the daily quantity last Tuesday afternoon and night. “After I had finished selling the daily quantity of qat at 3 pm. I found more people searching for qat so I phoned a qat farmer to send me one more shipment of qat” said al-Thawr.” At nine pm I found more consumers knocking at my door asking for qat. I wondered why qat is demanded at this but one of the consumers told me it is because of the American elections and that everybody has been following up the results live on TV. I sold all qat I had and decided to go follow up the results. It was wonderful that this African Obama became president of America”, said the qat dealer al-Thawr.

Many Yemenis have been following up the American elections even since its early stages particularly from the first day when Obama was announced won the democratic elections in Iowa. However the enthusiasm and momentum reached the peak on the eve of the presidential elections as millions of Yemenis in the cities and villages kept along with all zealous people across the globe following up the results of the American elections till Wednesday morning to see a first black man become a president of the super power United States of America for the first time in the history of mankind. Saeed Omar 35 old motorcycle driver from Harad district said he and his brothers and mates in Harad, Abs and Hodiedah where many Yemenis of African origin live spent the whole night following up the American Elections with “al-Jazeera and al-Arabeiyah but we also followed the results live from the USA on CNN with the help of some English teachers who translated for us the CNN projection. We are still celebrating and we haven’t slept yet,” said Omar.

Sheikh Yahya Zaila’a from Midi in the western coast of Yemen said he and many people in Midi city and in Tihama are still awake although it is already Wednesday noon because they were happy Obama’s won. “This is the rebirth of democracy freedom and human rights in the USA and on the globe,” said Sheikh Zaila’a.