The Role of the Local Authority in Hodeidah Governorate in Developing the Red Sea Islands during the period (1999-2015)

Abstract

The study aimed to clarify the role that the local authority in Al-Hodeidah Governorate should play in developing the islands within its jurisdiction according to the Local Authority Law, which grants the governorate direct supervision over all islands, their development and protection from any external aggression. The importance of the study lies in the fact that its findings serve as a message to the current local authority to develop and improve the islands in the Red Sea (as an obligation, not an option). The findings of the research were as follows:

1-    The development efforts previously carried out by the central authority in the islands were insufficient, including the organization of the First International Conference for Island Investment in 2004, and the field survey report of the Red Sea islands in 2006. This may be attributed to the dissolution of the General Authority for the Development and Improvement of Yemeni Islands in 2010, which had been established under Republican Decree No. (285) of 1999, and whose termination had a negative impact on the development of Yemeni islands.

2-    The establishment of the Yemeni Coast Guard Forces in 2002 as a naval force played a role in protecting the Yemeni island.

3-    Investment in the Yemeni islands is considered one of the most important sources of development and national income.

4-    Many previous studies and political reports have warned that failure to protect the Red Sea and the islands within it could enable the Zionist entity, which has attempted and continues to attempt to seize these islands through direct or indirect presence.