The international community will help Yemen to root out terrorism and is urging the world’s poorest Arab country to carry out more political and economic reforms. This was a conclusion of the international conference on Yemen, held in London on Jan. 27.
“The challenges in Yemen are growing and, if not addressed, risk threatening the stability of the country and broader region,” said a statement issued after the talks.
“If conflict and violence go unaddressed they will undermine the political reform and reconciliation that are essential to Yemen’s progress,” said U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a briefing, hoping for more reforms in Yemen will reduce the influence of the terrorist groups in the region.
The two-hour conference was attended by representatives from more than 20 countries. Britain’s Foreign Minister David Miliband announced a follow-up donor conference in Saudi Arabia on Feb. 27, where Western and Arab countries will meet again.
Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi promised to implement the reform program and combat terrorism. Yemen insists it can fight al-Qaeda without the direct help of foreign armed intervention.
The meeting was organized by the Britain’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown, as a response to a failed attempt by Umar Farouq Abdul Mutallab from Nigeria, who tried to detonate a homemade bomb in a plane bound for Detroit on the Christmas Day. The Yemeni branch of al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attack, and Abdul Mutallab was allegedly trained in Yemen.
In recent years al-Qaeda has strengthened its presence in Yemen—a country suffering from instability as the government fights against the insurgency in the north and a secessionist movement in the south/
“The challenges in Yemen are growing and, if not addressed, risk threatening the stability of the country and broader region,” said a statement issued after the talks.
“If conflict and violence go unaddressed they will undermine the political reform and reconciliation that are essential to Yemen’s progress,” said U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a briefing, hoping for more reforms in Yemen will reduce the influence of the terrorist groups in the region.
The two-hour conference was attended by representatives from more than 20 countries. Britain’s Foreign Minister David Miliband announced a follow-up donor conference in Saudi Arabia on Feb. 27, where Western and Arab countries will meet again.
Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi promised to implement the reform program and combat terrorism. Yemen insists it can fight al-Qaeda without the direct help of foreign armed intervention.
The meeting was organized by the Britain’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown, as a response to a failed attempt by Umar Farouq Abdul Mutallab from Nigeria, who tried to detonate a homemade bomb in a plane bound for Detroit on the Christmas Day. The Yemeni branch of al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attack, and Abdul Mutallab was allegedly trained in Yemen.
In recent years al-Qaeda has strengthened its presence in Yemen—a country suffering from instability as the government fights against the insurgency in the north and a secessionist movement in the south/
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