Thursday, January 28, 2010
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An international conference in London on Tuesday came up with a plan to fightal-Qaeda's presence inYemen. Delegates present at the conference were from twenty countries, includingYemen, theUnited Kingdom, and theUnited States.
The conference was called by British Prime MinisterGordon Brown due to the failed Christmas Day plot to blow up a US plane, for which al-Qaeda in Yemen claimed responsibility. However, the attendees stress that the al-Qaeda presence is not Yemen's only problem, and that it cannot be solved without first dealing with the others.
 | we—the international community—can and must do more. |  |
—Hillary Clinton | ||
Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, said that bringing peace to Yemen and making it more stable is a major priority for the United States. She said that the United States had signed a three-year agreement on security development in Yemen. "To help the people of Yemen, we—the international community—can and must do more. And so must the Yemeni government," she said.
Clinton said that she does not believe that military action would be enough to solve Yemen's problems, and that corruption must be combated as well as building up democratic institutions and promoting human rights. She asked that the government of Yemen begin its proposed ten-point program for the development of these areas and to reduce the influence of extremist organisations.
Yemen is the poorest nation in the Arab world, and its economy was also on the meeting's agenda. The United Kingdom's Foreign SecretaryDavid Miliband chaired the talks, and said that the Yemeni government had pledged to begin an attempt to combat this by entering into discussions with theInternational Monetary Fund, representatives of which were present at the conference, in order to put together a plan for its economy.
| In tackling terrorism it is vital to tackle its root causes. In Yemen's case these are manifold—economic, social and political | |
—David Miliband | ||
Miliband also announced that a "Friends of Yemen" organisation was to be launched, to discuss the economy, government, and judicial process of Yemen. Also present were delegates from theUnited Nations,European Union, andWorld Bank. Miliband acknowledged that the solution was not simply a military one by saying at a press conference, "It's been a common feature of every contribution that we have heard today that the assault on Yemen's problems cannot begin and end with its security challenges and its counter-terrorism strategy. In tackling terrorism it is vital to tackle its root causes. In Yemen's case these are manifold—economic, social and political".
Ali Mujawar, the Prime Minister of Yemen, received this support warmly, but said that any attack on the nation's sovereignty would be considered "unacceptable", and that it should not be portrayed as a failing nation, despite a multitude of problems, including its damaged economy, rapidly growing population, and shrinking oil reserves, as well as the beginning of a drought and its problems with insurgents, such as al-Qaeda terrorists. British Foreign Office MinisterIvan Lewis echoed Mujawar's statements by saying that Yemen is "not a failed state", but "an incredibly fragile state". Lewis also said that "[s]upporting the government of Yemen is crucial to the stability of that country but it is also crucial to the stability of the world".
Yemen's Foreign Minister, Abu Bakr al-Qirbi, asked the delegates at the conference for "international support to build infrastructure, combat poverty and create jobs, as well as support in combating terrorism". However, he said that the idea of having US military bases in Yemen was "inconceivable".
Arab League secretary generalAmr Moussa is unsure how useful the meeting will be. He expressed these concerns by telling the BBC, "I don't know how a conference like that can decide something useful, something reasonable for Yemen... in a couple of hours", and saying that it was a "strange" and "very unusual sign" that the Arab League had not been given the chance to send delegates to the conference, despite wanting to discuss all of Yemen's problems without specific focus on al-Qaeda. Despite these concerns, donors from a number of Western and Gulf nations have agreed to meed again, this time in theSaudi Arabian capital city ofRiyadh, in February.
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| This page isarchived, and is no longer publicly editable. Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication. Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to thetalk page along with your corrections, and it will bebrought to the attention of theadministrators. Please note that due to ourarchival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections. Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age. The text of this article is licensed under the terms of theCreative Commons Attribution 2.5 License |
