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Traders face tough times in Taiz

Hundreds of small traders in the city of Taiz, some 256 km south of the Yemeni capital, Sana, are facing tougher times after the local authorities recently stopped them from selling goods in the streets in an effort to create a more pleasant urban environment. Those most affected are people who don't own shops but sell small items of merchandise such as iron boxes, cloth and other small household items on the streets. This is their main way of earning an income to feed themselves and their families in a country where an estimated 35 percent of the population live under the poverty line. "I lost all my hopes. All my plans and my future are over," Tawfiq Ahmed Saeed, a 24-year-old iron box seller, told IRIN in Taiz, as he wept. "I was planning to build my future from this small business. My father sold all his property to help me finance this small project, because I couldn't get another job," he added. Saeed said that the local administration had ruined all his hopes and plans, leaving him with no income, and no prospect of marriage or a family. "The police of Taiz municipal council pushed us and our goods from the streets by force and damaged them if we refused to move from this place," trader Rashad Qassem Farhan told IRIN. "No one can resist them and we were unable to say anything to them regarding this inhumane action," he said. "I have six children and a wife in my house and they depend on the simple income of this small business. Despite that, the authorities do not have any mercy on us," Ahmed Moqbel al-Shar'abi, 40, told IRIN. The official move has caused widespread anger among the small merchants as they not been offered alternatives. "We are ready to stop selling here in the streets, but the government should give us jobs or help us to do our business in shops," Hamoud Sarhan told IRIN. "This official procedure to stop those people from selling in the streets took place after a long period of thought. We wanted to create a clean and good environment for Taiz city," an official source at the local public works office told IRIN. This step was very important "to modernise Taiz city and reduce [overcrowding in] the traffic-crowded streets", he added. "Unfortunately we don't have any substitute for them and never thought of this when we started to enforce this plan," the official added. Taiz is one of the largest cities in the country, with some 2 million residents, according to the 1994 census. The population is expected to increase rapidly and local people say this has put a huge strain on the job market. Over the last decade, a large number of people have migrated to neighbouring countries such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait to work, but after the recent war in Iraq those countries expelled nearly a million Yemeni labourers, most of them originating from Taiz province. Such people were forced to try and make a living and many opted to start a small business by selling items on the streets.

This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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