Yemen, 2009

At the

outset, Mr. Treki, permit me on behalf of Yemen and on

my own account to congratulate you on your well-

deserved election to the presidency of the General

Assembly at its sixty-fourth session. I am confident

that your long experience in the area of diplomacy, in

particular Arab and African diplomacy, will ensure

your skilful and able conduct of our proceedings. I

wish you every success in carrying out your noble

mission. I also wish to congratulate Father Miguel

d’Escoto Brockmann, President of the General

Assembly at its sixty-third session, on his efforts,

which ensured the success of the various Main

Committees of the Assembly. In addition, I thank the

Secretary-General for his tireless efforts to consolidate

international peace and security and advance the work

of the Organization.

The Republic of Yemen is facing complex socio-

political and development challenges, to which a

number of factors have contributed, including the

world financial crisis and its impact on Yemen’s

economy, as well as an acute shortage of resources as a

result of declining oil production and low prices on

international markets. We also face a growing

population, combined with water shortages and limited

commitments by our development partners to help us

combat poverty by providing employment

opportunities and decent livelihoods for the Yemeni

population. Despite those difficulties, the Yemeni

citizen has the smallest share of official development

assistance when compared with citizens of other least

developed countries. Undoubtedly, lack of

development and rising unemployment and poverty

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rates have created many challenges and difficulties for

our Government.

The Government also faces other challenges,

including, in particular, the rebellion by the Al-Hothi

elements in the Sa´ada governorate, who abandoned

the Zaidi doctrine, which is the second most prevalent

religious sect in Yemen, to embrace the beliefs of the

Shi´ite Twelvers sect. Although they had the right to do

so as Yemenis, they exploited it to gain Shi´ite support

and sympathy after they had carried out an armed

rebellion against the Government. These subversive

groups have committed terrorist and violent acts

against citizens, targeted State institutions and facilities

and hampered the work of local councils, calling for

changes in our democratic republican system in order

to return Yemen to the days before the 26 September

revolution. The Government has been compelled to

deal with these destructive groups, channelling a

portion of its limited resources allocated for

development towards fighting the saboteurs and

re-establishing governmental authority and the rule of

law throughout Yemen. The destructive acts carried out

by these rebellious groups before the recent military

operations against them caused the displacement of

tens of thousands of citizens from areas affected by

violence, which has recently increased as a result of

military clashes.

As a result of its concern about the situation of

internally displaced persons (IDPs), the Yemeni

Government has addressed that humanitarian situation

responsibly and in cooperation and coordination with

international and civil society humanitarian relief

organizations, providing secure camps and meeting the

needs of IDPs for food and health care. Here, I wish to

recall that our Government has declared two cessations

of hostilities during the most recent military

operations, the second of which was in response to the

appeal made by the Secretary-General and

humanitarian and international organizations for the

opening of safe corridors for the provision of relief to

refugees. However, the saboteurs exploited that

ceasefire by increasing their attacks on our military

forces, cutting off roads, planting mines and spreading

false rumours about Government forces attacking the

IDPs. The Government has established a committee to

investigate the situation, although it is aware that there

was no IDP camp in the area but rather a camp used as

a supply centre and meeting place by the saboteurs,

who have violated five previous agreements and

returned to violent actions.

I wish to highlight our commitment to the

principles of guaranteeing human rights, protecting

civilians from the effects of military operations and

upholding the sovereignty of the Constitution and the

rule of law in dealing with an internal situation caused

by a group that is committing violent and terrorist acts

in violation of the law and the Constitution.

This challenge is growing, as can be seen from

the activities of Al-Qaida elements in Yemen and their

attempts to consolidate their presence in Yemen and to

target our country and other States in the region.

Al-Qaida is supporting the saboteurs in Sa´ada, seeking

to make their acts of violence and rebellion serve the

interests of Al-Qaida in Yemen and to spread anarchy

and instability. This highlights the need for continued

Yemeni efforts to uproot terrorism and for continued

international coordination among security and

intelligence organs, so that extremism and terrorism

can be defeated.

Meanwhile, a number of separatist elements are

exploiting the atmosphere of democracy and freedom

of thought and expression, the Government’s respect

for human rights, and economic difficulties and a low

standard of living to promote their separatist agenda —

which was rejected by the Yemeni people in 1994 — in

an invitation to reject constitutional legitimacy and to

conspire against the unity, security and stability of

Yemen.

The level of expenditure required for our

Government to impose the rule of law and combat

terrorism has reduced the number of employment

opportunities, decent livelihoods and educational

opportunities for our young people and the chance to

fight poverty. Therefore, we urge the international

community, donor countries, international

organizations and Yemen’s partners to join an

international alliance to combat terrorism. Once again,

we call upon them to shoulder their responsibilities and

provide generous support to Yemen in order to

strengthen our development programmes to combat

poverty and provide job opportunities, since

development and economic growth are important

elements in combating terrorism, reducing

unemployment and achieving development. From this

rostrum, we call on Yemen’s partners and donors to

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fulfil the pledges that they made at the November 2006

London conference in support of development.

The Republic of Yemen continues to strengthen

the democratic principles of its political system,

reflected in political pluralism, the peaceful handover

of authority, freedom of expression, respect for human

rights, growing decentralization, building local

government with broad powers, electoral and

constitutional reform and improving partnerships with

civil society organizations. Those involved in political

work in Yemen agreed to postpone for two years the

parliamentary elections that were to be held next April

in order to reform the election law and to introduce

some constitutional changes with a view to reforming

governance. For its part, the Government has

introduced a system of broad local government

involving the election rather than the appointment of

governors with a view to bringing about further

decentralization of authority.

The difficult humanitarian situation of the

Palestinian people under Israeli occupation should

remind all in this Hall that the international community

has failed to secure the legitimate demands of the

Palestinian people and to assist it in establishing its

own State, and that it has ignored the suffering of the

Palestinian people, the systematic violation of their

human rights and the increase in illegal settlement

activities in the occupied Palestinian territories. The

unjust blockade imposed on the Palestinians in Gaza

makes life a tragedy for the entire population of Gaza

owing to the complete disregard of the practices of the

Israeli occupation in violation of the relevant

international resolutions and instruments, and in the

light of the recalcitrance shown by the Israeli

Government and its rejection of all initiatives aimed at

moving the peace process forward, in particular with

regard to the course adopted by the United States

Administration to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict. We

call upon our Palestinian brothers to show a spirit of

national responsibility towards their people living

under the yoke of occupation by unifying and putting

an end to their differences so as to benefit the

Palestinian issue and achieve their goals.

The situation in Somalia calls for the

international community to take more effective

measures to achieve peace and security and to rebuild

the institutions of the Somali State by urging the

Transitional Federal Government to act in such a way

as to contribute to the strengthening of peace and

stability in the Horn of Africa. Here, we welcome the

efforts of the Transitional Federal Government to

secure peace and to extend its administration

throughout Somali territory. However, it urgently needs

further support to enable it to serve the Somali people.

We call on all Somali parties without exception to end

their differences, to participate in national dialogue and

to achieve reconciliation, putting the interests of the

Somali people above all else.

We call on the external parties to stop interfering

in Somalia’s internal affairs. Instability in Somalia is

adversely affecting all States of the region. The

phenomenon of piracy and the increasing flow of

refugees to neighbouring States, resulting from the

instability in Somalia, are creating socio-economic and

health difficulties for Yemen, as it bears the burden of

caring for hundreds of thousands of those refugees. We

call on the international community to help the Somali

coast guard to protect the coasts and international

maritime trade.

With regard to the situation in the Sudan and in

Darfur, we welcome the mediation efforts of Qatar,

Libya and Egypt to achieve peace in the Sudan. We

support the efforts of the international community in

bringing about the reconciliation of all opposing

factions, and we reiterate our call for the decision of

the International Criminal Court with regard to

President Omer Al-Bashir to be overturned as it does

not respect the sovereignty of the Sudan and hinders

the efforts for peace in the Sudan.

Yemen condemns all acts of terrorism to which

the Iraqi people are subjected, and we call on them to

overcome their differences and to strengthen their

national unity.

Yemen welcomes the efforts of the Secretary-

General towards reforming the Organization. We

reaffirm our position that the United Nations and its

system should be reformed in order to achieve

equitable representation and a better decision-making

process that places the required emphasis on

development, fighting pandemics, easing poverty and

addressing environmental issues, which have a direct

impact on the standard of living of millions of people.

We must strive to bolster the Security Council’s role in

the maintenance of international peace and security; at

the same time we must reform the Council and expand

it to make it more representative, ensure that its

deliberations are more transparent and rationalize the

9 09-52604

use of the veto so as to avoid its abuse and double

standards.

In conclusion, on behalf of the Government of

Yemen, I would like to extend our appreciation for the

good work of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in

managing this Organization and in improving its work.

I reiterate my congratulations to you, Mr. President,

and wish you every success.