Allow me at the outset, Sir, to congratulate you on your
election as President of the General Assembly at its
sixty-second session. I am confident that, with your
wisdom and experience, you will lead our work to
success. I wish you every success. I also wish to
commend Her Excellency Sheikha Haya Rashed Al-
Khalifa, from the sisterly Kingdom of Bahrain,
President of the General Assembly at its sixty-first
session, for all her constructive and concrete efforts to
ensure the success and positive results of the
Assembly’s work.
The sixty-second session of the General
Assembly coincides with the sixtieth anniversary of my
country’s joining the United Nations, on 30 September
1947. The Republic of Yemen was one of the first
countries to realize the importance of participating and
interacting in an international forum that serves noble
human objectives, the reason for which this
Organization was established. We also became aware
of the role of the United Nations in safeguarding
international peace and security and in promoting
cooperation among Member States with the aim of
achieving prosperity for all societies.
On this occasion, I cannot fail to refer to the
transformations that the Republic of Yemen has
undergone since its inception on 22 May 1990, be it in
human development, freedoms, democracy or
protection of human rights. However, during the past
two years in particular we have had significant success
in establishing good governance and enlisting popular
participation in local council elections, and we have
embarked on an integrated ambitious programme for
economic, political, social, judicial and administrative
reform. This has come to be known as the National
Reform Agenda.
The presidential and local elections held in
September 2006, the transparency and fairness of
which were attested to by all international observers,
are evidence of the practice of democracy, freedom of
expression, peaceful change of government, political
pluralism, and decentralization in the management of
State affairs. Yemen has also granted local councils
broad authority. Several pieces of legislation to combat
corruption were passed by the Yemeni Parliament,
including the establishment of a Supreme Anti-
Corruption Commission. They deal with procurement,
tenders and bidding, and the establishment of an
independent Commission, financial disclosure for
public servants and basic reform in the judiciary. The
Government now seeks to amend the laws that govern
the press in order to remove all constraints.
Yemen has acceded to several international
agreements relating to the fight against corruption,
including the initiative of international transparency in
the mining and extraction industry sector.
Today the world is witnessing political changes in
Yemen: freedom of expression and of demonstration
for its citizens, accorded to them by the constitution
and by law. Even though some people have used these
freedoms to cause anarchy and violence, the
Government has dealt with them in consonance with
the constitution and the law.
I reiterate that my country abides by the approach
that it decreed for itself: democracy, political
pluralism, peaceful change of authority and recourse to
the ballot box as the best and only way for change. It is
worth recalling here that the Government of Yemen has
declared its intention to amend the constitution so as to
reduce the presidential term of office from seven to
five years and the term of office of Parliament
members from six to four years. It also intends to
amend the law pertaining to local administration, so
that governors would be elected directly, and to turn
local administration into local government, so that
more decentralization and participation in governance
can be realized.
As it moves along this path, Yemen faces several
challenges in the areas of development, poverty and
unemployment. These challenges compel Yemen to call
on other States and on international organizations to
help it overcome obstacles and to increase their
development aid to Yemen, especially as the per capita
assistance provided to the Yemeni individual does not
meet the internationally accepted standard.
No one today questions the existence of global
warming, the results of climate change that the world is
experiencing, or the damage that is being inflicted on
the environment. Hence, it is only natural to stress that
we should all assume our common responsibility to
contain the damage caused by some wrong-headed
policies and practices, given that the devastating
effects of such policies are evident to each and every
one of us. Over the past year we have seen floods,
hurricanes and global warming in many regions of the
world. The future has in store more catastrophes that
may affect or wipe out millions of people, especially in
the third world. Consequently, the poor would continue
to pay for the luxuries of the rich.
We would like to recall all the agreements
relative to the environment and the resolutions that
have been adopted at conferences to protect it. We
should therefore seek to contain the climatic changes
that result in desertification and flooding.
The tense situation in the Palestinian territories
and the violence the Palestinian people are facing from
the Israelis are matters that run contrary to the
provisions of the United Nations Charter, international
law, international agreements, the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and the Fourth Geneva
Convention. While the Arabs in the past have been
criticized for not providing an Arab vision to put an
end to the Arab-Israeli conflict, they were indeed
surprised that, when they presented their own Arab
Peace Initiative, it was totally ignored by Israel and the
international community, in spite of all the elements
that would secure a comprehensive and just solution to
the conflict. Thus, it is our hope that the Arab follow-
up committee of the Arab initiative will have created a
positive atmosphere leading to an international
conference to be held under international supervision
to achieve peace in the Middle East. It is also our hope
that the United States of America will keep its promise
regarding the establishment of the Palestinian State on
national soil, with Holy Jerusalem as its capital, based
on the principles of total sovereignty, viability, and
return of refugees; and we hope that the solution will
be widened to include total Israeli withdrawal from the
Golan and the Sheba’a farms. We emphasize the
importance of the participation of all the parties
concerned in the international conference to be held
soon.
On this occasion, we call on our Palestinian
brothers to return to dialogue, to unite their positions,
to abide by the Arab Peace Initiative, to reorganize the
Palestinian house in accordance with the constitution
and Palestinian legitimacy. I refer here to the recent
Yemeni initiative to bring the Palestinian factions
together to serve the unity and ambitions of the
Palestinian people.
The Republic of Yemen welcomes Security
Council resolution 1770 (2007) on Iraq. From this
rostrum it calls on the international community to stand
with the elected Iraqi Government to extend its
authority, to put an end to sectarian violence, to control
all the armed militias and to face the terrorist elements
that seek to spread anarchy and undermine legitimate
resistance and efforts at national reconciliation. We
emphasize the necessity for dialogue among all the
national groups in Iraq in order to reach a common
vision that could restore Iraq’s security and stability
and its pioneering role in the region. The Republic of
Yemen calls on everyone to stop interfering in the
internal affairs of Iraq, to respect its unity and Arab
character, to put an end to the occupation of its lands
and to reject any plan to divide it.
Regarding the Sudan, we welcome its
Government’s acceptance of an expansion of the forces
and mandate of the African Union-United Nations
Hybrid Operation in Darfur. We support the efforts of
the Sudanese Government to restore peace in that
region in accordance with the security plan presented
by the Security Council, provided that the sovereignty,
territorial integrity and unity of the Sudan will never be
jeopardized under any pretext.
The Republic of Yemen blesses the reconciliation
agreement signed by the Somali factions in the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which came about as a
result of African, Arab and international efforts. Yemen
calls on all international actors to provide further
assistance and support to the Transitional Federal
Government in a manner that would enable it to rebuild
Somalia. We emphasize the importance of providing
enough African peacekeeping forces to stabilize and
normalize the security situation in Somalia. That would
hasten the withdrawal of Ethiopian forces. As has
always been the case, the Republic of Yemen will
remain a partner in the reconciliation process,
supporting all the parties, rejecting any foreign
intervention in Somalia and emphasizing the need for
reconstruction in Somalia, with a view to enabling the
Transitional Federal Government to rebuild State
institutions.
The Republic of Yemen emphasizes the right of
countries to possess nuclear technology for peaceful
purposes. It continues to support a special General
Assembly declaration of the Middle East as a zone free
from all nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass
destruction, and resolutions demanding that Israel
abide by the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of
Nuclear Weapons (NPT), in order to guarantee the
stability of the region and to prevent a nuclear arms
race there.
The Republic of Yemen emphasizes the
importance of achieving the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs), adopted in 2000. We also support the
objectives set out in the Monterrey Consensus. My
country is convinced that the mobilization of financial
resources for development and the effective use of
those resources in developing countries and countries
in economic transition, are two crucial areas in which
true international partnership should be encouraged. It
is worth mentioning that the responsibility of creating
and managing development programmes is first and
foremost the responsibility of national Governments, in
accordance with their priorities, needs and
specificities, and in keeping with international
strategies stemming from the Millennium Development
Goals. This should take place in partnership with donor
countries and international organizations, and in
accordance with national goals and programmes
devoted to human development.
The Republic of Yemen wants the human being to
be the centre and goal of its development and has
placed the MDGs high among the priorities of its
policies and its five-year development plan for the
period 2006-2010. It has strenuously sought to take the
social, economic and environmental dimensions of
development into consideration. It has also involved
civil society organizations in implementing these
strategies. In addition, my country is working with
donor countries, international specialized agencies and
other institutions to implement our third five-year plan,
with the objective of alleviating poverty by supporting
small-scale programmes, expanding technical
education, enabling women, providing investment
services and opportunities and strengthening good
governance. This is an ambitious plan that requires
international support if it is to fully achieve its
objectives of bringing about a qualitative change in
human development in Yemen.
There have been difficulties, however, in the
implementation of this ambitious reform programme,
including frequent increases in the price of food stuffs,
such as wheat flour, which has affected the standard of
living of Yemeni citizens, placing increasingly heavy
burdens on them. Accordingly, it is incumbent on rich
States to consider how to deal with inflation in
international markets, so that countries’ efforts to
implement their reform programmes will not be
jeopardized and so that those countries can strike a
balance between the costs of reform on the one hand
and living standards, social peace and political stability
on the other.
In conclusion, allow me to express on behalf of
the Government of the Republic of Yemen our deep
thanks to the Secretary-General, His Excellency
Mr. Ban Ki-moon, for his sincere and strenuous efforts
at the helm of the Organization. We are confident that
he is capable of leading it with a view to bringing
about justice and fulfilling the principles and values of
the United Nations to which we all aspire. We look
forward to his continued leadership, especially in the
search for a just and comprehensive peace in the
Middle East.