Sana’a: Yemenis will vividly remember Lakhdar Brahimi and Jamal Bin Omar as two to UN envoys who were sent Yemen when it was teetering on the brink of division.
Brahimi, who is now a UN peace envoy to Syria, came to Yemen in 1994 when a civil war was ranging between north and south. Shortly after his arrival, the northern, backed by some defected southerners, stormed Aden, the then capital of South Yemen.
Similarly, Bin Omar arrived to Yemen in 2011 when the country was on brink of another civil war, but this time between troops loyal to the country’s long-serving president, Ali Abdullah Saleh and defected troops backed by powerful tribes. Bin Omar played a part in striking a deal brokered by the Gulf countries which managed to defuse tension between rivalries.
Bin Omar’s current task is to keep an eye on progress of the transitional period that started with inauguration of the incumbent, Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi and ends when a new one is elected. He also sends reports to the UN Security Council on the situation at regular intervals.
This month, Bin Omar gave an interview to Gulf News in his suite in Mövenpick, Yemen’s most luxurious hotel.
Under the terms of the GCC initiative, all Yemen political forces should join the National Dialogue Conference (NCD) to discuss solutions to the county’s big issues.
“The role of the United Nation is to encourage all sides to participate in the process, to look at common ground and to look for consensual solutions. But it is not for us to dictate solutions,” he outlined his task in Yemen.
Bin Omar said that discussions in the NDC are hard and time-consuming.
“Here in the national dialogue we do not have two blogs negotiating. We have many constituencies; Hirak [Southern Movement], Ansar Allah [Huthis], women, civil society, and obviously and forwardly other political parties. So getting to consensus, has not been easy because of the nature of this multi and three-cornered negotiation,”
Bin Omar’s critics have little hope that the conference, which is wrapping up, will produce any tangible solutions to the county’s problems.
Bin Omar replied: “This transition has advanced and it is still largely on track despite all difficulties and the national dialogue has moved forward in a very positive way.
“The positive side is when a solution is made it is likely to be sustainable because all constituencies are involved in developing this consensus.”
The representatives of some political forces in the NDC have signed a document to turn the country into a federation of semi-autonomous regions.
“There is a high level of consensus in the need to establish a new federal state. The demand is not from the southerners, but also from people in the northern regions. I believe that many of the ills of the previous system came from its highly centralised nature.”
Bin Omar enraged many of members of former president’s party when he signalled that the current president Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi could stay in office after February 2014. Media loyal to the former president have been telling supporters that the party would regain power after February 2014 election.
“It is very clear that there has been a well-funded, relentless and malicious campaign aimed at misleading the public by trying to convince them that president Hadi’s term and transitional period comes to an end in February 2014,” he said.
“What I have said repeatedly is that the implementation mechanism of GCC initiative makes it clear that the president remains in office until the inauguration of a new president.”
Bin Omar says that the NDC has to finish some steps before the end of the transitional period.
“The discussion [in NDC] is about how many months needed to accomplish the forthcoming steps outlined in the transitional agreement from the conclusion of the national dialogue until elections are held.
“These steps are concluding the national dialogue and establishing a constitution drafting commission,” he said.
“Also drafting a new constitution, informing the public about the constitution, integrating the feedback through the process of public participation in the revised draft of the constitution, concluding the deal on agreement on the constitution and then building a voting registry, calling for referendum, agreeing on referendum and agreeing on a new electoral law and other relevant legislation for preparation for general election.”
So how long will NDC take to the finish these steps?
“From what I have seen in the current debate, there is a review that this task will require nine months, but the mainstream review will take from 18 to 25 months.
“No decision has been made. Yemenis are discussing a new timeline and our job is to encourage them to make consensus,” he said.
Building on Bin Omar’s speculation, Hadi could roughly remain in office for another year. When asked about Saleh’s strong opposition to the extension of Hadi’s term for the transitional period, Bin Omar picked up some papers from the sofa and produced the recent UN resolution on Yemen.
“The UN Security Council reiterated their concern over continuing reports of interference by those intent on disrupting, delaying or derailing the transitional process and undermining the Yemeni Government,” he read from the document.
Angered by Bin Omar’s frequent critical remarks of its leader, Saleh’s party has recently written a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon complaining about Bin Omar and urging him to change its envoy to Yemen.
In the interview, Bin Omar appeared relaxed as he went through the papers in his hand.
“The Security Council has named Saleh specifically and his former deputy Ali Salem Al Beidh as trying to undermine the transitional process.”
“When it comes to Yemen, the security council speaks with one voice. There is are no divisions within the security council. The SC wants this unique political transition to succeed.”
Bin Omar said that the unrest in the south stemmed from two decades of abuse by the former regime.
“The south suffered for two decades from injustices, gross violations of human rights, discrimination. It is only now that we are realising the scope of the discrimination and pillage that the southerners were subjected to.”
He noted that Hadi has taken many steps to address southerners’ grievances. These steps include the appointment of two commissions. One is focusing on land and the other on the situation of the people who were dismissed from civil service and armed forces.
“The people in the south have started to see light at the end of tunnel. For the first time they are seeing serious efforts to address their grievances.”
After Hadi’s serious efforts to solve the southern issues, Bin Omar does not see any need for putting the option of secession on the table.
“All participants including Hirak say that they will look at a solution that is contextual, realistic and in the context of building a new democratic and federal state.”
Despite the escalating violence in the south, Bin Omar said that he received promises from Hirak leaders that the movement “remain peaceful”.
Despite the deteriorating security situation in the Yemeni capital, Bin Omar said that he has never survived assassination bid on his life. He once mistakenly thought his convoy came under attack.
“There was an incident when my convoy passed by coincidence, it seems, when another MP was assassinated. I heard the shots very loud and we initially thought we were the target, but we found few minutes later that it was someone else.”
Bin Omar’s schedule in Yemen is heavy. Starting from early morning, the 57-year-old diplomat spends his time criss-crossing the Yemeni capital; from the presidential palace to Hadi’s house and then to his hotel.
“I sometimes work from early morning till midnight.” But when he finds free time, he jets down some notes.
He says he may write a book about his experience in Yemen. Despite many persistent attempts by Yemeni politicians, Bin Omar says he has not chewed Qat, a popular narcotic leaf in Yemen.
