Yemen

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 13 08-53135 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 08-53135 14 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.