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Viewing cable 06SANAA223, SANAA'S HIP NEW CAFE BULLDOZED

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
06SANAA223 2006-02-01 12:53 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Sanaa
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SANAA 000223 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EINV ECON PGOV SOCI YM ECON COM
SUBJECT: SANAA'S HIP NEW CAFE BULLDOZED 
 
1. (SBU)  SUMMARY:  On January 30, bulldozers ripped through 
the patio of Zorba's Cafe, an establishment that had rapidly 
become a popular hang-out for both locals and foreigners. 
Zorba's expatriate owners had high hopes that opening the 
first sidewalk cafe in Sanaa would allow them to recoup their 
investment and quickly turn a profit -- hopes that were 
dashed, they believe, by jealous competitors who paid off the 
municipality to destroy the cafe.  Such underhanded 
practices, although usually more discrete than bulldozers, 
are often used by Yemeni businessmen to quash their 
competition -- another reason why Yemen has much progress to 
make in improving its investment climate.  END SUMMARY 
 
2. (SBU)  Zorba's Cafe opened on January 18 under the 
proprietorship of two businessmen from Cyprus and Lebanon, 
serving coffee and light fare in a setting reminscent of a 
typical European sidewalk cafe.  The establishment quickly 
became popular among expatriates and some Sanaanis, 
particularly because Zorba's was the first of its kind in 
Sanaa, a city where locals tend to eat and drink quickly in 
restaurants, and reserve socializing for afternoon sessions 
of qat chewing at peoples' homes. 
 
3. (SBU)  During the night of January 18 - 19, municipality 
representatives reportedly approached the home of a sheikh 
who owns the land the cafe was built on, looking for a bribe, 
but were sent away by the sheikh's armed guards.  Municipal 
bulldozers then arrived at the cafe during the early morning 
of January 30 and, encountering no armed resistance, 
destroyed the cafe's patio, effectively putting the 
establishment out of business. 
 
4. (SBU)  Asked why their business had been shut down, the 
owners told poloff that they had queried municipality 
officials "all day" on the 30th, but had received nothing 
more in the way of an explanation than, "We are so sorry that 
this happened."  They said they were taking the matter up 
with the police, but did not expect a satisfactory 
investigation.  The cafe owners speculated that "jealous 
competitors" who were "not happy with a place where you could 
get good, clean food in Sanaa" paid off municipality 
officials to bulldoze the cafe.  They said that social 
conservatives -- some of whom had come to the cafe days 
earlier armed with kalashnikovs demanding that an Ethiopian 
waitress cover her hair -- probably did not have enough clout 
to pressure the city administration into destroying the cafe. 
 
 
5. (SBU)  COMMENT:  Businessmen conspiring with government 
officials to squeeze out their competition is not a new story 
in Sanaa, but the use of bulldozers is normally reserved for 
the last stages of land disputes.  More often, unexplained 
tax bills and previously unknown licenses are the tools of 
preference for putting pressure on a restaurant or store 
owner.  Whatever the methods, the distaste of Sanaani 
businessmen for competition and the willingness of corrupt 
officials to conspire with them demonstrate that Yemen still 
has much progress to make in order to improve an uninviting 
investment climate. 
Khoury