Yemen, 2025

The Assembly will hear an address now by His Excellency Rashad Mohammed al-Aleimi, President of the Presidential Leadership Council of the Republic of Yemen. I request protocol to escort His Excellency and invite him to address the Assembly. In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful, my statement today will be entitled For Yemen, For the World. Your Majesties, Your Excellencies, Your Highnesses, Madam President of the General Assembly of the United Nations, Mr. Secretary General, Ladies and Gentlemen, Distinguished Delegates, I would first like to offer Madam Anna-Lene Eberbog and her friendly country, the Federal Republic of Germany, I'd like to offer them our sincere congratulations on her election as President of the United Nations General Assembly. I wish her success in leading this session, which we attach great importance to under the slogan Better Together for Peace, Development and Human Rights. I would also like to commend the efforts of the Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr. Antonio Guterres. We look forward to working with these two leaders of the United Nations to champion peace and human rights in Yemen and to offer protection to the relief staff that have been kidnapped by the terrorist Houthi militias that are backed by the Iranian regime. I also take this opportunity to offer our sincere congratulations to our great Yemeni people who tonight are celebrating the anniversary of the overthrow of the racist Imamate regime 63 years ago and the birth of a republic that is based on the principles of liberty, justice and abolishing differences and class discrimination and encouraging the participation of women and guaranteeing rights and liberties. Ladies and gentlemen, within this organization, which was built in the aftermath of a horrific war, humanity eight decades ago pledged that no people would be left alone to face dictatorship or chaos or famine without the backing of the international community. You pledged and we pledged along that this organization will safeguard human dignity and the rights of peoples to live in dignity, security, development and peace. And today, after all these years have passed, we pose to you the same fateful question from the Yemeni people, whether these values and principles continue to exist or not. For us, what would it mean for our country to be left hostage to the Iranian regime's expansionist schemes and its militias that use hunger as a weapon, religion as a tool and maritime passages as a means of blackmail? What does it mean for this country with an ancient history to become one of the most dangerous hotspots of terrorism, cross-border terrorism in the world? Therefore, we are here today not simply to speak of the epic confrontation of the Yemeni people against the violent and the most violent and arrogant of terrorist organizations at all. Rather, we are here to build on what was achieved and to call on the world once again to take action and not simply to take note and to achieve the salvation that we have promised our people, not simply a petition of statements of the past. Ladies and gentlemen, Yemen today is not simply a domestic crisis. Rather, it is a test of the credibility of the international organization. After a decade has passed to the coup that was orchestrated by the Houthi militias supported by the Iranian regime against the national consensus, our people are living one of the gravest humanitarian crises facing security threats that transcend our borders and spread to the region and the entire world. The Houthi militias are no longer a rebel group in a remote area in the country. Rather, the Houthi militias are an international terrorist organization armed to the teeth with an advanced Iranian arsenal, including ballistic missiles and drones and booby-trapped boats and sea mines and fissile projectiles and other qualitative weapons that are internationally banned. In addition, this outlaw group supports networks that smuggle drugs and utilize new technologies to disrupt communications and guidance systems in an attempt to transform Yemen into a laboratory to experiment with the weapons of its supporters. These are not simply tools of war. Rather, this is a scheme to redraw the map of Iranian influence in the region. And those who are lenient with this group today must imagine how tomorrow will be when the Red Sea and maritime passages fall permanently to this terrorism. Therefore, ladies and gentlemen, the past years have proven that the policy of conflict management by offering more incentives has only brought more disaster and destruction. Moreover, the policy of containment has given the Houthi militias the time and the resources to further expand its arsenal. The United Nations was unable to protect its own staff who were kidnapped in Sana'a, unable to protect the oil installations and the commercial ships. It has become clear that the peace we seek cannot be asked for but must be imposed by force. Ladies and gentlemen, it has become incumbent upon the world today to reconsider its position on the Yemeni situation. On the one side, there is a widespread national front that believes in international legitimacy and adopts the values of partnership and democracy and maintains local diversity and popular participation, and works on building the institutions of a state. This is the front that I represent today, myself and my brothers, the members of the Presidential Council and the government, which is a member of the United Nations and represents all Yemenis, men and women alike. In return, we have an exclusionary, sectarian, fascist organization that does not believe in the principles of international legitimacy and which conducts cross-border terrorism and adopts an authoritarian theocracy that is opposed to human rights, which is embodied by the Houthis and their supporters. Unfortunately, the disregard by many of the essence of the Yemeni crisis has encouraged the Houthi militias to go further in threatening peace regionally and internationally, and targeting energy sources and maritime passages, and even kidnapping and abusing United Nations staff. Ladies and gentlemen, I have spoken to you from this podium in the past, and at the time, I asserted that the government of the Republic of Yemen is always ready to embrace a comprehensive peace, even if that includes making painful concessions, as long as they come in the interest of the Yemeni people. However, after our efforts to maintain peace have failed, it has become necessary to move collectively and firmly to impose peace. Therefore, I call on you today to form an effective international coalition to restore security and stability to Yemen, a coalition that would rebuild the institutions of the state and would liberate the country from the clutches of the militias and all forms of terrorist groups. Ladies and gentlemen, the United Nations General Assembly, in its 80th session, seems to be in dire need to prove to its members that international law is not simply a myth, and that the rules-based international order is not simply a selective call. Yemen and Gaza, in this context, are the moral testing ground of this important organization. They are the place where we can definitely confirm that the might of right is still able to confront the right of might. And here, the Palestinian cause lies in the heart of this issue as a wound that continues to bleed, and the central cause of the Arab people, which is now also witnessing an important transformation, so the overwhelming recognition of an independent state. And here, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to our brothers and sisters in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for their efforts, along with their French partners, to achieve these unprecedented political gains. We'd also like to confirm here our full support for the Palestinian Authority and the two-state solution in accordance with international resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative. And we call upon the rest of the member states to recognize Palestine and to support the rights of its people and their dignity. And at the same time, we reiterate our rejection of the use by outlying militias of this just cause as a trading card, which has only brought Palestine more isolation and destruction. Your Majesties, Excellencies, and Highnesses, in the midst of this suffering of the Yemeni people that has lasted for 11 years, our brethren have not left us alone, namely the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, who have not only worked to protect the Yemeni state from collapse, but for the entire region from falling into the clutches of the Iranian scheme. They have presented a practical model of strategic partnership based on development. The world must adopt this model and not simply watch it. At the end of last week, our brothers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia once again announced additional economic aid to the country's budget and basic services at a time when the Yemeni government is facing extreme financial bottlenecks. And we hope that the international community will join this effort so that we could keep millions of Yemenis alive. Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, the title of my statement today was, For Yemen, For the World. We are not calling upon you today to simply work for Yemen, but for the entire world. Yemen must not be left to fall prey for blackmail and terrorism, because this would mean opening the door to more victims, and this would deliver a blow to the credibility of this organization and its principles. What we ask from you are not new statements, but international action, firm international action to support the legitimate government as a trusted partner on the ground. The time has come to launch an international coalition that will liberate Yemen from terrorism and rebuild its national state, and would guarantee the security of the region and the world from the dangers of cross-border terrorism. And this is what we call for, to regain sovereignty in our country and put an end to the chapter of militias once and for all. I thank you, and peace and God's blessings be upon you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. On behalf of the Assembly, I wish to thank the president of the Presidential Leadership Council of the Republic of Yemen. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.