Speech of His Excellency President Dr. Rashad Mohammed El Alimi at the Arab League Summit Conference (Algeria 1-2 November 2022)

  Algeria

 

Dear brother, His Excellency President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, Their Majesties, Excellencies and Highnesses His Excellency the Secretary General of the League of Arab States, Ahmed Aboul Gheit Your Excellencies All attendees,

At the outset, I would like to express my deep appreciation to the brotherly Republic of Algeria, as president, government and people, for their warm reception, generous hospitality, and for all the efforts exerted to make this summit a success, which coincides with the anniversary of the glorious liberation revolution in this dear Arab country. I also extend my thanks and appreciation to His Excellency President Kais Saied and the Tunisian government for their efforts during Tunisia's presidency of the previous session and their appreciated endeavors to promote joint Arab action at a difficult stage in the history of our nation. I would also like to express our appreciation for the efforts of Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit, and all his assistants and staff of the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States, and their stances in defending the interests of our people, our nation, and Arab national security.

Dear brothers, allow me, Your Majesties, Excellencies, and Highnesses, to express our deep gratitude for your steadfast standing by our people and their legitimate leadership, in the hope that this summit will represent a decisive shift towards restoring security, stability and ending the long-standing human suffering in our country. Your Majesties, Excellencies and Highnesses,

I was hoping to bring you good news from our afflicted country, after we tried with our allies and partners to revive the peace process by agreeing to the humanitarian truce sponsored by the United Nations, and extending it for two consecutive terms. In the midst of that momentum for the de-escalation track, supported by our full response to all the terms of the truce, a new spirit of optimism prevailed across the country after eight years of stalemate, but this hope quickly dissipated as expected, when the terrorist Houthi militia again chose an unprecedented escalation. In line with the Iranian regime's expansionist strategy in the region.

Within six months of the collapsed truce, which is the age of the Presidential Leadership Council, in whose name I am speaking today on behalf of my fellow members of the Council, and the Yemeni people, our government has committed to all the conditions of the truce, and is still committed to it to this day, despite the terrorist militias’ refusal to renew the truce, and its failure to fulfill its commitment regarding opening the roads of the besieged city of Taiz for seven years. Our people were looking forward in hopes, to another step in the path of peace that would bring more benefits to our Yemeni people through renewing the truce for an additional six months, including new travel destinations, and paying the salaries of employees according to the 2014 statements, in the areas under the control of terrorist militias.

However, those militias evaded these entitlements by refusing to renew the truce and targeting the ports of Al-Daba and Al-Nashima in the governorates of Hadramawt and Shabwa in a terrorist act that led to the suspension of exports from the two vital ports, seeking to plunge the country into a comprehensive economic and humanitarian crisis, and impede the wheel of service and living reforms initiated by the Presidential Leadership Council and the government during the previous months of the Council’s period. On top of that, these militias are still announcing daily threats to national economic facilities and civilian infrastructure throughout Yemen, and neighboring countries that have been at the forefront of leading efforts aimed at establishing peace and stability and restoring the institutions of the Yemeni state in accordance with the references agreed upon nationally, regionally and internationally.

That is why we took the initiative to amend our strategy in dealing with this extremist group by designating it as a terrorist organization. In this regard, we invite you, our honorable brothers, to do the same, based on the facts, and in confirmation of League Council Resolution No. 8725, at the level of permanent delegates issued on January 23 of this year, and approved at a later time by the Ministerial Council, which calls on all countries to designate this group as a terrorist organization.

Your Majesties, Excellencies and Highnesses,

I am aware of the questions and concerns raised by some regarding the repercussions of the terrorist designation of the Houthi militia, but this shift in our strategy to deal with this group takes into account those concerns according to studied mechanisms that take into account the economic and social facts and reality, humanitarian concerns, and the values, principles, and common interests on which this League was founded 77 years ago.

Among those facts is that this terrorist group has caused the deaths of about half a million Yemenis, including women and children, displaced about five million others across the country and across countries and continents, planted millions of mines, internationally banned explosives, pushed thousands of children and youth soldiers to the death holocausts. It began to demolish our national identity, crushed societal rights and gains, the climate of coexistence and pluralism that prevailed in our country throughout history.

In addition, more than 80 percent of our people are today waiting for aid from relief agencies, in light of the intransigence of the terrorist militias and their rejection of all efforts and good offices to establish peace, stop war and end suffering. In addition, this terrorist group boasts of targeting civilian and economic facilities in Yemen, and across borders, developing terrorist methods to threaten maritime navigation, starting with the indiscriminate laying of mines in international shipping lanes, and attacking commercial tankers with drones, booby-trapped boats, and guided missiles, all the way to acts of piracy and hijacking of ships. Maneuvering, extortion, and procrastination to end the threat of the floating Safer reservoir, which threatens a major environmental disaster in the region. Even those expected benefits from the humanitarian truce, terrorist militias worked to reduce them by preventing women from traveling on flights, and continuing to sponsor black markets for oil derivatives, despite allowing the flow of hundreds of thousands of tons of fuel.

Over the past eight years, the terrorist militias have reneged on all their obligations, including the Stockholm Agreement, which includes the release of thousands of arbitrarily detained, abducted and forcibly disappeared persons. They even went to the release of those convicted of terrorism cases, in open service to al-Qaeda and ISIS. Dear brothers, that is why, the real losses resulting from this war and the Houthi terrorist vision for the future cannot be limited only to the number of deaths and destroyed cities, but also to the mined land, the opportunities and dreams of our lost generations, our identity, and our national security, which are fraught with the danger of giving priority to the interest of the Iranian regime over the interests of our people, and our Arab nation.

Therefore, the time has come for collective Arab action in Yemen to confront the destructive coup project based on myth and racism, and attempts to separate our country from its Gulf and Arab fabric, and turn it into an Iranian starting point for threatening Arab national security and global energy supplies. Depriving these terrorists of safe havens and operational platforms, draining their funding sources, and dismantling their deceptive ideologies will be the beginning of the road to defeating them and restoring the path of true and sustainable peace. However, this will not be complete without confronting and isolating the Iranian regime that gives these terrorists sanctuary, weapons, money, and media. I seize this opportunity and the high summit of the leaders of our honorable Arab nation to stress the need to support all efforts to prevent destructive Iranian interference in the affairs of our country, including confronting arms shipments, transferring military expertise, and destructive ideas documented by our irrefutable evidence and successive international reports.

Allow me, regarding this fact, to speak very frankly that we have never had any problem with Iran and its people who are now enduring all the troubles resulting from the futile adventures of his regime. Iran's interest is in partnership with its neighbors and the regional and international community, focusing on the service and well-being of its citizens, and refraining from squandering their resources and capabilities while destabilizing the security, stability, and sovereignty of peoples and states. Dear brothers, words alone are not enough, to describe the magnitude of the risks facing our national security, which requires us to mobilize all energies, and work with complete vigilance over the coming years, because I am fully aware that what Yemen is facing today, and other countries in the region, are common challenges and in the event of our inaction to stop it, it will harm us all, without exception.

Your Majesties, Excellencies and Highnesses; Your Excellencies; all attendees, The convening of this summit comes in exceptional and extremely complex circumstances, foremost among which is the war in Ukraine, climate change, and its repercussions on our food security, especially countries that are witnessing armed conflicts and humanitarian crises caused by groups rebelling against the national consensus. The response of this honored summit to the file of the challenges facing our national security was a remarkable work, as our peoples look forward to collective solutions to secure their food, reduce the repercussions of these interlocking crises on living standards and the safe flow of food and basic commodities. There is no doubt that the repercussions of these changes were more clear, complex, and profound on food security in Yemen, which imports about 45 percent of its needs for wheat from Ukrainian and Russian wheat.

Therefore, I join you to the calls for activating the role of our joint Arab institutions, including building on initiatives and proposals aimed at establishing an economic bloc that guarantees Arab food security, and reducing the devastating effects of the current international crises, especially on the most fragile countries, as part of a comprehensive Arab strategy for development and investment in our available resources. Your Majesties, Excellencies and Highnesses,

Dear brothers and sisters, all attendees: More than seven decades after the founding of this ancient organization, Palestine is still and will remain the central cause of the Arabs, and a symbol of the longest struggle in history for freedom and independence, and building the desired Palestinian state. Therefore, we reaffirm our firm stance on the just Palestinian cause, which will enjoy our full political support in various forums, in accordance with the two-state solution, the Arab initiative, and relevant international legitimacy resolutions. The Republic of Yemen also supports Palestine's full membership in the United Nations. The Republic of Yemen, as a founding member, is also committed to continuing to support the League of Arab States, and to welcome all initiatives to enhance its stance as an umbrella and home for all Arabs and a common space to unite the word and coordinate efforts in order to preserve the interests, prosperity, and national security of our nation.

In this context, I find it appropriate opportunity to express our deep gratitude to our brothers in the Coalition to Support Legitimacy led by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, who shed their blood with us, in defense of our land, interests, and institutions, rebuilding our services, uniting our ranks, and defending Arab national security, as an affirmation of the meanings of Solidarity and integration emphasized by the Charter of the League of Arab States. Your Majesties, Excellencies and Highnesses, Brothers and sisters, all attendees: It was a pleasure for me to meet a number of leaders and commanders who are with us here today. I and my fellow members of the Presidential Leadership Council, and the government look forward to your support for all efforts to restore state institutions, alleviate human suffering, and approve appropriate collective mechanisms on these levels.  With God's help, this summit in the dear land of Algeria will be the beginning of making a transformation, restoring Arab leadership, and to be remembered as the summit of peace, solidarity, reunion, and a firm stance to protect the interests of the Arab nation and its national security. All thanks to you again, my brother, His Excellency President Abdelmadjid Tebboune... All the best wishes for success and prosperity to this summit for the good and flourishing of the nation and its common interests.

Peace, mercy and blessings of Allah