Yemen, 1994

At the outset, Sir, please allow me, on behalf of

my country, my delegation and speaking for myself, to join

previous speakers in most warmly congratulating you and,

through you, your country on your election to the

presidency of the General Assembly at its forty-ninth

session. Your excellent qualifications, extensive

experience, wisdom and detailed knowledge of international

affairs, give us confidence in that you will guide the

deliberations at this session to successful conclusions.

I should like to take this opportunity also to express

our gratitude and appreciation to your predecessor,

Mr. Samuel Insanally, for the important role he played in

the forty-eighth session and for his tireless activity

throughout it. Similarly, fairness compels us to express our

admiration and great appreciation to the Secretary-General,

Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, for his invaluable and

unremitting efforts since he took up his post, to increase the

importance of the United Nations, make it more effective

and maximize its ability to carry out its duties properly, and

thereby to increase the confidence of mankind in general,

and every nation in particular, in the credibility of this

Organization’s commitment to the purposes and principles

of its Charter. Foremost among those is the maintenance

of peace and security on the basis of justice and equality.

It is our hope that he will continue to play his role with the

same enthusiasm and high-mindedness.

Having studied the annual report on the work of the

Organization, which we have all received, we can say it is

comprehensive and accurate. The Secretary-General

deserves our gratitude and appreciation for the outstanding

effort he has put into drawing up that report, and in

presenting it in such a satisfactory form. However, we

should like to make some remarks on the references made

in the report with regard to Yemen.

As members are aware, our country, the Republic of

Yemen, was earlier this year exposed to bloody sedition as

a result of a dangerous conspiracy on the part of a handful

of treacherous mercenary elements who chose to isolate

themselves from the rest of their fellow countrymen, to

rebel against legitimate institutions, overturn constitutional

legality and trample on the Constitution, law and order,

with the aim of destroying the unity of the country, burying

it alive and aborting our experiment in democracy based on

political and party pluralism, which was successful despite

the shortness of the period during which it has been in

place.

First, I should like to point out that history shows

that throughout the ages our country, Yemen, has always

been a single political unit, with the exception of a few

periods of varying lengths during which it was subjected

to division or segmentation. Sometimes this was the

result of a power struggle, and sometimes the result of

total or partial occupation by one or more foreign powers.

However, it was never long before Yemen regained its

unity at the hands of its own people, who never lost sight

of the fact that they are a single Muslim, Arab, Yemeni

people, and never forgot for one moment that they

belonged to one nation. Throughout the earlier decades

of this century, wherein our people struggled against the

dictatorial rule of the Imam in the North and British

colonialism in the South, the unity of Yemen was the

loftiest ideal of our people and its dearest national

aspiration. Even after another State was established in

the South once it became independent of the United

Kingdom on 30 November 1967, and after the revolution

of 26 September 1962 in the North, which swept away

the reactionary rule of the royalist Imam and replaced it

with a republic, the return to Yemen of unity in the form

of a single State remained an all-embracing, popular and

insistent demand. Our people never accepted that the

separation should continue once its national soil had been

liberated from the yoke of occupation. They persisted in

refusing to accept that abnormal situation and in resisting

it by every means. Each of the two former Yemeni

States adopted a name which emphasized the fact that it

belonged to one State called Yemen. Their rejection of

partition led each of those States to refer to the other as

its “other half”.

Awareness of this strength of feeling among all our

people in support of the unity of Yemen and of their

rejection of partition made the successive leaders in both

Sana’a and Aden spare no effort in vying with each other

and pressuring each other on the question of unity. This

led to two outbreaks of hostilities between the two parts,

the first in 1972 and the second in 1979 and, throughout,

tension and conflict between them persisted and continued

to flare up from time to time.

However, developments since the beginning of

1986 — starting with the tragic civil strife between the

partners in power in the South and the comrades of the

Socialist Party, the sole ruling party, followed by the

policy changes in the Soviet Union culminating in the fall

of regimes in the countries of what used to be called the

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socialist, or Eastern, bloc and, finally, the end of the cold

war — all this created the right conditions for re-uniting

Yemen.

Another factor was that the regime in the South, which

had been tightly linked to the Soviet Union and its socialist-

country allies, found itself unable to oppose internal and

external enemies without strong international backing. It

was therefore possible to agree to unite the two halves of

the country on 30 November 1989, during President

Lieutenant-General Ali Abdullah Saleh’s visit to Aden on

the twenty-second anniversary of the South’s independence,

and to persuade the then ruling Socialist Party leadership to

accept unification.

On 22 May 1990 unity was peacefully and voluntarily

established in the form of a single State called the Republic

of Yemen, a Republic based on democracy and pluralism.

The first general parliamentary elections were scheduled to

take place at the end of a period of transition of two and a

half years, during which time Yemen was to be governed

jointly by elements drawn from the leadership of each of

the previous two “halves” of the country. However, as

time passed and the agreed date for the scheduled

parliamentary elections drew near, some high Government

officials from the leadership of the Socialist Party — the

other governing partner at that time — began to create

problems and crises in order to prevent the holding of

elections on the agreed date. As a result, the elections were

postponed from November 1992 to 27 April 1993.

The elections, when they finally took place, were

indeed free and fair, as was attested to by all those who

took part in monitoring them. Those monitors included

representatives of States, organizations and institutes

concerned with democracy and the protection of human

rights and freedoms, side by side with journalists and

correspondents from Arab and non-Arab news agencies. In

an editorial published at the time of the elections, The New

York Times described them as

“a true revolution in the furthest part of the Southern

Arabian peninsula”.

Despite the fact that the results of the election gave

the General People’s Congress, under the leadership of His

Excellency President Ali Abdullah Saleh, Chairman of the

Presidential Council at that time, the sole right to form a

Government, the President and his party favoured a

coalition with the other two important parties: the Islah

party, the Yemeni Alliance for Reform (YAR) and the

Yemeni Socialist Party. This was inspired by a genuine

desire to strengthen the bonds of national consensus, to

guarantee secure foundations and support for the

successful establishment of national unity, particularly in

its early stages, and to guarantee continuity and survival

for a democratic experiment which was still in its cradle.

They also aimed at preventing conspirators and

opportunists from having any leeway to exacerbate

disagreements or provoke armed conflict.

Only a few weeks after the formation of the

coalition Government, on 31 May of that year, while the

freely and directly elected Parliament was preparing to

carry out its work and discharge its duties, there began to

appear certain indications that a suspect plot was being

hatched. It was clear that elements of the leadership of

the partner in the governing coalition, the Socialist Party,

who held important positions in the constitutional

institutions and, more precisely, in the Presidential

Council and the Cabinet of Ministers, were behind the

plan. The prevailing belief was that the matter was

nothing more than an attempt to exert pressure in order to

extract more concessions and a bargaining chip they used

to obtain more government posts or, in the very least, to

maintain positions in the Presidential Council when it was

re-elected, if that was decided. Again, it could have been

an attempt to secure the post of Vice-President of the

Republic if the form of the Presidency of the State was

going to be changed from a Presidential Council to a

republican presidency. Naturally, the results of the

general elections did not suit the ruling elements of the

Socialist Party, despite their sharing in power and the

important leading positions they held. That was perhaps

due to their addiction to being the sole ruling centralized

totalitarian authority, their love of ruling without partners

and the fact that they lacked belief in the country’s unity,

and had no deep-rooted confidence in democracy, political

pluralism or in free direct elections.

Suddenly, without any reason or justification, in

accordance with a carefully planned time-table, those

elements created a political crisis, and matters reached the

point where an attempt was made to ruin or at least to

paralyse the institutions and apparatus of the State and to

usurp the constitutional legality derived from the will of

the people through the ballot box and replace it with a

legality derived from decisions taken as result of dialogue

between different parties. Those conspiring elements

were not satisfied with that, despite the grave risks

involved. Rather, their arrogance and disregard of

legality were carried to the point of wanting to impose

their tutelage over the people and to impose an

undeclared partition through the continual use of an

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iron-fist policy and absolute control over a number of

Governorates, which they used to rule by force and

oppression in the days before unification.

Despite all the generous concessions that continued to

be made from time to time by the leadership of the

majority, under the direction of His Excellency President

Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was at that time Chairman of the

Presidential Council, the elements bent on separatism

stepped up their challenge and their disregard of

constitutional legality to the point of triggering hostilities in

the hope of bringing Arab or international forces to separate

the combatants and force each side to withdraw beyond the

old borders dividing the two halves. Their aim was to put

an end to unification, to declare another separate State on

part of the territory of the homeland, and thereby to revert

to the situation that existed before 22 May 1990.

However, our people stood behind our armed forces

and security forces, whose loyalty set them squarely on the

side of legality. Those forces were able to turn the fighting

decisively in favour of unity and democracy, and by so

doing were able to abort the suspect plot and to maintain

Yemen as the unified single State it has been throughout its

long history.

Today, Yemen has regained its stability and ensured

its security, after that ordeal, and has put an end to sedition.

A general amnesty has been declared, and national

reconciliation has been achieved. Those who fell prey to

deceit and disinformation have returned to the nation to

participate in political life, and they benefit from the spirit

of tolerance which characterizes the political leadership of

President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Here I should like to

emphasize to you and to the Secretary-General that no harm

has befallen any of those people and that none of them has

been put on trial. Most of them have gone back to their

normal lives quite naturally. That was not all: the Socialist

Party itself spontaneously elected a new leadership which

contained many elements of the former leadership, and

went back to participating in political activity in complete

freedom. Its representatives in parliament participate in

parliamentary life just as they did before.

Within the framework of the leadership’s attempts to

ensure the success and continued progress of our

democratic experiment, and in order to expand the basis of

popular power sharing, the elected parliament, on 27

September 1994, unanimously passed a number of

constitutional amendments which provide for the

introduction of a local governmental system based on the

principle of free and fair elections. They also decided to

create a consultative council to be established by

republican decree from experienced and highly qualified

personalities from various regions of Yemen to widen and

expand the basis of representation and opinion.

Last Saturday, 1 October 1994, the Chamber of

Deputies — again in complete freedom — elected

Lieutenant General Ali Abdullah Saleh President of the

Republic in accordance with the amendment approved by

the Parliament regarding the organization of the national

presidency, which was amongst those constitutional

amendments.

Our choice of the democratic option based on

political and party pluralism was not the result of pressure

from any side, rather it was motivated by our conviction

that democracy is the best contemporary method of

government. It represents the path leading to

development, progress, security and stability. However,

the continued success of our democratic experiment

remains subject to economic growth. That requires an

end to the economic war that continues to be waged

against our country. This is a war which takes many

different forms, including the closing of markets in other

countries of the region to our agricultural and industrial

products. We therefore appeal to all our brethren in

neighboring countries to lift all the barriers and remove

all the obstacles to free trade and the movement of locally

produced goods as an important step towards the

normalization of relations, and the strengthening of

brotherly ties and regional cooperation.

As an extension of the national reconciliation

process which we have begun to implement within

Yemen, despite all the events which have taken place,

hand in hand with that and in the same spirit, we call

upon all neighboring countries to respond positively to

our sincere initiative, to end the causes of dispute and

resume normal relations, which will strengthen security

and stability in the Arabian Peninsula region, based on

good-neighborliness, mutual respect and non-interference

in internal affairs. The Republic of Yemen has an

important geographical and strategic position, as

represented by its control over Bab al-Mandab, and the

Red Sea and the Arabian Sea, which meet in its territorial

waters in the Gulf of Aden. The Republic of Yemen is

aware of its responsibilities and of the importance of the

role it plays in the maintenance of security and stability

in the Arabian Peninsula region, of the Gulf in particular,

and the world in general.

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In this context, we would like to appeal to the Security

Council to lift the sanctions which are still in place against

Iraq after such a long time, as the justifications for such

sanctions no longer exist. The suffering of the Iraqi people

has reached intolerable levels. Insistence on maintaining

such measures will lead to deepening enmity and hatred

between the States of the region. It is necessary to turn a

new leaf and have recourse to dialogue in order to ensure

the security and safety of all sides concerned, in a spirit of

love and fraternity, and on the basis of respect for the

independence and sovereignty and legal rights of every

party.

On the basis of our membership in a wider nation, we

feel impelled to appeal to the Security Council to review its

resolutions against Libya, our sister country, and accept the

reasonable solutions put forward by the Arab League,

which include the trial of the Lockerbie suspects before an

international court, in accordance with the law of Scotland.

With regard to the three islands disputed by the United

Arab Emirates and the Islamic Republic of Iran, we would

like to ask both countries to work towards resolving this

dispute between them through dialogue and mutual

understanding based on respect for legitimate rights in

accordance with legal evidence.

It is very important indeed that cooperation and

coordination between the United Nations and the League of

Arab States should be strengthened, in the interests of the

Arab world in particular, and of the rest of the world in

general.

The Middle East peace process has so far achieved an

agreement between the Palestine Liberation Organization

and Israel on the one hand, and Jordan and Israel on the

other. However, a just, comprehensive and lasting peace in

the region remains linked to the withdrawal of Israeli forces

from the Golan Heights and South Lebanon, the

renunciation of the logic of power by the Tel Aviv

government, and its acceptance of an independent

Palestinian State in Gaza and the West Bank, including

Holy Al Quds.

We cannot forget our beloved brotherly Sudan. We

underscore the need to respect and safeguard its unity and

call for commitment to help it maintain that unity both on

the territorial and the human levels.

The fact that our sister country Somalia remains in the

grip of fragmentation, anarchy and fighting, is deeply

distressing to us and makes our hearts bleed. We will do

all we can to help our neighbour and its fraternal, Arab,

Muslim people to emerge from its terrible trial, by

participating with other fraternal countries in the

Committee which it was decided to form by the last

session of the Arab Foreign Ministers which was held in

Cairo. We hope this Committee will receive the

cooperation of the United Nations.

It is also a cause of deep sorrow that the Republic of

Bosnia and Herzegovina remains a target of terrible

aggression and continuous shelling by the Serb

aggressors, while the world does nothing but make

statements and threaten to take measures which have yet

to materialize. Perhaps the least that could be done as a

first step towards showing some determination in the face

of Serb persistent disregard for peace and security in that

important region, their trampling of the resolutions of

international legality, would be to immediately lift the

arms embargo and to begin to supply arms to the people

of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to enable them to defend

themselves against aggression.

We have become ever more convinced that right will

triumph over injustice, the same as the people of South

Africa have done by eliminating apartheid and racial

discrimination following such a long arduous struggle.

We would like to express our happiness at seeing this

new African State among us. We should also like to

express to the pioneer of freedom fighters, President

Nelson Mandela, our appreciation and respect. May we

wish him all success and progress in leading his country,

particularly after leading his people a phase of struggle

with courage, resistance and steadfastness.

It is important to mention here before concluding my

statement, that the accusations against Islam and judging

Islam from the point of view of certain acts of terrorism

taking place here or there because there are others who

are not Muslims who perpetuate acts of terrorism in

various parts of the world without having any accusations

levelled against their religions or their creeds. We

therefore believe that we should all stand against any

attempt to distort the concept and image of Islam and

against any allegations against it because Islam is a

religion which rejects violence and terrorism, a religion

that calls for love, coexistence and peace.

In order to show its respect and appreciation for the

United Nations, the Republic of Yemen has formed a

national committee to organize celebrations for the fiftieth

anniversary of the founding of this international

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Organization. We want our celebrations on this occasion

to reflect the importance we attach to it.

We should not miss the opportunity to refer also to the

importance of working to enlarge the representative base of

the Security Council, so as to take into consideration the

international changes that have taken place since the

establishment of the United Nations. One of the most

important of these is the emergence of two major economic

powers - Japan and Germany. They should join the

Security Council as permanent members. There should also

be just, permanent representation of regional groupings,

including the Arab region.

Finally, we hope that the fiftieth anniversary of this

Organization will be an incentive for renewing the vitality

and effectiveness of the United Nations, and an

intensification of its role, in order to achieve the aims of

the Charter in the light of the needs and requirements of the

new international changes.