Yemen Minister Says Demonstrations Reflect Parties’ Understanding

Yemen Minister of Foreign Affairs Abu Bakr al-Qirbi minified talks that his country will fall in a political crises similar to those in Tunisia and Egypt, according to Yemeni state news agency SABA, adding that unlike these countries Yemen has conducted dialogue with the opposition.

SABA quoted an interview al-Qirbi held with France Press 24, in which hei said the Yemen government allows the right to demonstrate, adding “the most important thing in Yemen, contrary to governments of Tunisia and Egypt, the ruling party has never cut relations with the opposition.”

Additionally, according to SABA, al-Qirbi said that most Arabs are young people and have aspirations and different ways of thinking and more open than we have been so that this will affect their trends. Most of these young people are unemployed university’ graduates who seek better future.

SABA added that Al-Qirbi said also that the Yemen government and the opposition are negotiating two points, the proportional representation and decentralization and granting wide power to local councils butt the matter will take time from both sides to establish correct process.

Concerning the demonstrations, al-Qirbi said, according to the SABA article, “we do not fear demonstrations in Yemen, we used to see demonstrations for years. I believe that the demonstrations in Yemen have no thing to do with the demonstrations we see in Tunisia or Egypt. The demonstrations in Yemen have reflected the wisdom of those in the ruling party or in the opposition.”

Even before “Jasmine Revolution”, the opposition has been requested to be involved in national government. The president himself has requested changing the presidential terms from seven to five years not the opposition. He was also clear in his speech before the parliament and the government that he will not hand over power to his relatives. The constitutional amendments have been frozen to return to dialogue, the minister said, according to SABA.

Responding to a question on delaying elections, he said the delay has something to do with the president’s announcement on freezing the constitutional amendments to start dialogue and open the door to the new enrollers as there are 1.5 million voters. This means that the elections will be postponed three or six months on their due time.