Yemen, 2008

I should

like to start by congratulating Mr. d’Escoto Brockmann

on being elected to the presidency of the General

Assembly at its sixty-third session. I am certain that he

will steer the work of this session wisely and

successfully, and we wish him every success in his

work. I also wish to pay tribute to his predecessor,

Mr. Srgjan Kerim, and thank him for his constructive

efforts and the results that he achieved at the sixty-

second session. On the occasion of the feast of

Ramadan, I wish to extend my warmest greetings to the

Islamic community and to all States of the world. May

that feast bring prosperity, peace and security to all.

Without doubt, representatives closely monitored

the terrorist acts perpetrated on the United States

embassy, which were combated by our courageous

Yemeni security forces. While we join the international

community and the Security Council in condemning

that terrorist act, we welcome the readiness of many

countries to work on a daily basis to counter terrorism.

We hope that such positive attitudes will translate into

genuine support that will enhance human development

projects and enable Yemen to overcome poverty by

also strengthening the Yemeni security forces, so that

they can play an effective role alongside the

international community in countering terrorism. We

also need increased cooperation and coordination

among security and intelligence services at the

international level so as to close all the gaps that have

enabled terrorists to continue their destructive

activities, which are alien to the values of religion and

human morals.

Because of the exorbitant costs that we have had

to bear in the field of security, Yemen has paid a heavy

toll in terms of lives and material damage in the anti-

terrorist activities that we undertake. Terrorist activities

carried out by Al-Qaida and Islamic jihad elements, as

well as by rebel movements, have caused tremendous

economic losses of over $2 billion to the Yemeni

Government and impeded the implementation of

development projects and Government measures to

reduce poverty. We therefore call on donor States,

international organizations and Yemen’s partners in

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counter-terrorism to assist Yemen generously and to

help it carry out the development projects and poverty-

reduction programmes that are key components in

countering terrorism, especially since terrorists exploit

poverty, need and ignorance to polarize people and

recruit individuals.

In the war on terrorism, in its various forms,

many people have falsely found a pretext to mobilize

against the Muslim religion, since Islam is the religion

of dialogue, tolerance and moderation. In that

connection, the Republic of Yemen fully supports the

initiative of His Majesty the King of Saudi Arabia with

regard to dialogue among religions — an initiative that

attracted great attention at the Madrid conference.

There is also a crucial need to fight terrorism around

the world by reviewing counter-terrorism mechanisms

so that the war on terror will not harm the lives of

innocent citizens and cause human rights violations.

The Republic of Yemen, which is one of the least

developed countries, continues to progress towards

democratization through political plurality and freedom

of expression, and is striving to promote the role of

non-governmental organizations and civil society and

the principle of the peaceful sharing of power. Yemen

is moving from a local administration system to

one of local governance that grants broad prerogatives

in the area of decentralization and power-sharing.

Parliamentary elections will take place in 2009 with

the participation of various political parties. The

Republic of Yemen, in that regard, intends to take all

measures to safeguard the integrity of those elections,

complying with international standards and welcoming

the participation of international observers.

This session of the General Assembly is taking

place in difficult international circumstances, with a

new cold war threatening to return to the world and to

undermine global peace and stability. We believe that

this important international forum should be an

instrument for resolving all issues and challenges and

their implications for international relations. We trust

that, through dialogue, non-interference in the internal

affairs of countries and respect for the interests of all,

we will be able to prevent a return to the age of

alliances, because the world now has a crucial need for

international cooperation in a spirit of pluralism and

partnership instead of further tension and polarization.

The changes on the international scene are

multiple. The most important facets are related to the

international economic situation, which has confronted

us with a number of unprecedented challenges. Among

those challenges is the severe shortage of foodstuffs,

the increase in the cost of food internationally and the

rise in energy prices. Those acute crises threaten to

affect the economies of poor countries, in particular by

increasing the number of hungry people around the

world. They are further compounded by industrial

States’ growing use of biofuels, which poses a threat to

the world’s current food reserves. While we agree that

biofuels do help to reduce damage from global

warming, that equation might change entirely if we

were to take into account the potential effect on a large

proportion of the world’s population, who may be

facing famine. Food must be produced in the interests

of the mass of humanity.

Poor countries are facing a major challenge

because of the increase in the prices of food and

energy. Whenever there are glimmers of hope on the

horizon for developing countries, they find themselves

facing new obstacles to the achievement of the

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). There can be

no doubt that, in order to address such difficulties, we

need increased international solidarity and cooperation.

We call on the major economic Powers and countries

that produce energy and food to fully shoulder their

responsibilities vis-à-vis the poorest countries and to

help them to achieve development and the MDGs

adopted by this Assembly in 2000.

The difficult humanitarian situation of the

Palestinian people, whose rights continue to be denied

and trampled by Israel, is a source of grave concern for

us. Moreover, Israel’s expansionist policies of building

illegal settlements on Palestinian and Syrian territories

and of the racist separation wall in the West Bank,

which have been condemned by the international

community and the International Criminal Court, are

creating further problems and placing new obstacles in

the path of the peace process in the Middle East. We

call on all parties, including the Quartet, to act to build

a climate favourable to the restoration of trust among

the parties concerned in the peace process so as to

attain comprehensive and just peace.

It is high time to put an end to the procrastination

policies of Israel. We greatly deplore the fact that

Israeli occupation forces are committing offences in

the holy sites in Jerusalem, which are among the most

sacred to Muslims. We warn the occupying Israeli

forces not to persist in such measures because, besides

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their potential impact on the peace process, they may

also have uncontrollable and unforeseeable

consequences. We believe it essential to adopt

resolutions without delay to provide for the protection

of the holy places and religious symbols, whatever they

may be, while firmly condemning any prejudice or

damage that may be done to them.

We warmly welcome the positive developments

in Iraq. We also welcome the improved security

situation and hope to see greater political stability in

that fraternal country. From this rostrum, we welcome

measures taken by the Iraqi Government to establish a

timetable to end the presence of coalition forces on

Iraqi territory as a major step towards its recovery of

security, peace and stability and in order to protect its

Arab identity and strengthen its national unity and role

in the region.

We are also closely monitoring with great

satisfaction the positive results achieved in Lebanon

and the work being carried out by the Arab Group

under the auspices of sisterly Qatar. We hope that the

agreement between the various Lebanese parties and

between the Syrian Arab Republic and Lebanon will

also be successful. Security and stability must be

strengthened in that region, and we hope that those

agreements will play an important role in enhancing

prosperity and peace for our neighbours in Iraq and

Lebanon.

The Republic of Yemen is deeply concerned by

attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of the

Sudan, and we reaffirm the importance of respecting

the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence

of that country. We call on the international community

to fully assume its responsibilities in Darfur, and we

encourage dialogue between the Sudanese Government

and the various factions, considering any party that

rejects dialogue and reconciliation and that resorts to

violence to be a terrorist entity imperilling peace and

stability. We also welcome the African and Arab efforts

to resolve the Darfur problem and to nullify the

negative impact of the decision of the Prosecutor of the

International Criminal Court. We once again express

our repudiation of politicized decisions by international

judicial and humanitarian organizations that infringe

on the sovereignty of States and interfere in their

internal affairs.

Instability in Somalia has negatively affected

countries of the region and is threatening the safety and

security of navigation in international waters, as a

result of the worsening phenomenon of piracy.

As members are aware, the number of refugees is

constantly rising. Those refugees, who number

approximately 500,000, have come to Yemen from the

Horn of Africa. Millions in Somalia and in the Horn of

Africa are threatened by famine, which could increase

the number of refugees and thus the burden borne by

the Government of Yemen. Therefore, we call for

greater international support to help Yemen cope with

the waves of refugees and to help Yemeni coast guard

forces to combat piracy.

The situation in Somalia poses a challenge to the

international community and requires serious efforts to

achieve peace and security for the Somali people in

order to enhance security and stability in the Horn of

Africa. In that connection, we welcome Ethiopia’s

readiness to withdraw its forces from Somalia and

reaffirm the need to deploy international forces to

restore stability there. We also call on all Somali

parties to seek reconciliation and end their disputes,

bearing in mind the interests of the Somali people, and

we urge all external actors to refrain from interfering in

Somalia’s internal affairs.

My delegation stresses the need to continue the

process of United Nations reform. We reaffirm our

resolve to join all other countries of the world in

contributing effectively to the attainment of that

objective. We believe that such reform is necessary and

important and that all must join in the efforts to

achieve it. Of particular importance is reform of the

Security Council, which should not be limited to

expanding its membership, but should ultimately result

in more rational use of the right of veto so that it can

no longer be used to block resolutions approved by the

vast majority of the membership.

In closing, on behalf of Yemen, I wish to thank

the Secretary-General for his unstinting support, efforts

and guidance at the head of the Organization.