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Africa Horn

Yemen offers to mediate between Ethiopia, Eritrea

2005-12-30

ADEN - Hosts Yemen on Thursday offered to mediate in a mounting crisis between Horn of Africa rivals Ethiopia and Eritrea as regional leaders prepared to wrap up a two-day summit in the southern port city of Aden. Just how screwed does your country have to be such that Yemen becomes a beacon of sweet, reasoned diplomacy? President Ali Abdullah Saleh “announced Yemen’s readiness to mediate between the two countries, or play any role that might help to ease tension and serve regional stability,” the official SABA agency quoted his as saying. He called upon Eritrea and Ethiopia to use dialogue to settle their disputes “in order to avoid wasting their energy and capabilities,” at the summit’s opening session on Wednesday. Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said that “maintaining stability in the region would provide more time to focus on development efforts in each member state.” Not that it's important to do anything for the people, of course ... The leaders of the Sanaa Forum were expected to discuss regional security and other issues, SABA said. “Yemen is following with great interest developments of events in our region, notably in Sudan and Somalia,” Saleh said before proceedings got underway with closed door discussions. He called on the international community to “support peace efforts in the region as well as efforts in the fight against terrorism.” Saleh and Zenawi, as well as Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir and Somalia’s transitional President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed were also expected to “put in place a (durable) structure for the “Sanaa Forum’,” he added. And we all know that there can be no Sanaa Forum without Somalia. Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr Al Kurbi had told AFP that member states should play a “common security role in the region’s waters to prevent all kinds of sabotage and maritime piracy and enhance stability.” If it's the pirates versus the combined naval assets of Yemen, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, I'm taking the pirates and giving the points.

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Iraq-Jordan

OIC Promises Total Support to Iraq

2005-07-01

"'Total,' huh?" "Yes, total!" Islamic states promised more assistance for Iraq in the face of a raging insurgency yesterday but balked at the outright condemnation of “terrorism” requested by its under-fire government. A final statement issued after a three-day meeting of foreign ministers of the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference insisted on a right of “legitimate resistance against occupation”. "Define 'total.'" “Ministers affirmed their decision to offer all sorts of support to the Iraqi interim government to write a constitution, as well as achieve security and stability,” the statement said. But it added the rider that the support was aimed at helping Iraq “achieve sovereignty and end occupation.” Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr Al-Kurbi, whose country hosted the meeting, said his counterparts also “called upon all Iraqis to unite in order to end occupation”. The statement condemned “all aspects of terrorism” but insisted on “differentiating between terrorism and legitimate resistance against occupation”. Really, it may not be their fault. I understand the Koran requires that they squat to pee...

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Saudis halt fence work after Yemen agrees to joint patrols

2004-02-20

Saudi Arabia decided to halt the construction of a barrier on its frontier with Yemen after Sanaa agreed that the two sides would conduct joint patrols to curb cross-border smuggling and infiltration, an official said yesterday. “Saudi Arabia’s main concern is to control its borders with neighbouring countries, including Yemen, by whatever means possible. If the joint security measures agreed with Yemen can ensure border security, then there is no need for sandbags,” the Saudi official said, requesting anonymity. But Saudi Arabia doesn’t seem to be doing so well on control of its border with iraq. Word that Riyadh was calling off construction of the controversial barrier, which began last fall, first came from Sanaa on Wednesday at the close of a visit to Riyadh by Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Yemen’s official news agency Saba quoted Foreign Minister Abu Bakr Al Kurbi as saying Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz had “given instructions to stop construction of the barrier on the Saudi side of the border”. Seems to be conflicting reports as to which side of the border the wall was actually built. A joint Saudi-Yemeni statement said the two sides had agreed on a series of measures to tighten border controls without mentioning the barrier, which Sanaa considered an infringement of a June 2000 agreement that ended a decades-long territorial dispute between the two Arab neighbours. The Daily Times (Pakistan) is reporting that Saudi Arabia agreed on Wednesday to dismantle the recently begun fence - which Yemen says already extends around 75 kilometres - after complaints from Yemen that it violated their border treaty, Yemeni Foreign Minister Abubakr al-Qirbi said.

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