Gulf | Yemen
Yemen invites international monitors for next year's polls
Calls for increasing quantum of assistance as country battles terror.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:02 October 1, 2008
United Nations: Yemen will allow international monitors to oversee multi-party parliamentary elections scheduled for early next year to ensure their fairness, the country's foreign minister said on Monday.
Addressing the UN General Assembly, Abu Bakr Al Qurbi called on international donors to be generous with assistance and sought to highlight that the country continued to be at the receiving end of terror attacks.
Yemen has affirmed support for the United States after the September 11, 2001, attacks, but the ancestral home of Al Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden is still viewed in the West as a haven for Islamist militants.
"The beginning of 2009 will witness the fourth parliamentary elections in Yemen that will feature diverse political parties," Al Qurbi said in his speech.
"We stress here that the Yemeni republic will take all measures in order to guarantee the fairness of the polls and to adhere to international standards and we welcome the participation of international monitors," he said.
Yemen is a small oil producer with exports totalling about 200,000 barrels per day.
Democratic path
Despite having one of the slowest economic growth rates in the world, the country is "pressing on along its democratic path," Al Qurbi said.
This "is manifested in political pluralism, freedom of expression and speech, and consolidating the role of civic society institutions and the peaceful sharing of power," the minister added.
Al Qurbi said attacks by Al Qaida and other radical Islamist militants as well as local rebel tribesmen have cost the country more than $2 billion (Dh7.34 billion) in economic losses.
In September alone, 17 people were killed in twin suicide car bombings at the US embassy - the largest attack in Yemen since the 2002 bombing of the French supertanker Limburg. Other major Al Qaida attacks in Yemen, where weapons are available widely, include the 2000 bombing of the US destroyer Cole.
Poverty factor
The latest militant attacks "hindered the implementation of development programmes and government efforts to reduce poverty, and reflected on citizens' lives," Al Qurbi said.
"So we ask donor countries, international organisations and Yemen's partners in the fight against terrorism to provide generous aid for it to boost its development programmes and to combat poverty, both important factors in combatting terrorism. Terrorists take advantage of poverty, need and ignorance to recruit members," he observed during his speech.
Dozens of militants are jailed in Yemen for involvement in bombings of Western targets and clashes with the authorities.
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