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| Jamal Benomar, Special Adviser to Secretary-General on Yemen, while addressing reporters at UN Headquarters in New York [PHOTO: UNifeed] |
New York: The Special Adviser to Secretary-General on Yemen, Jamal Benomar, said that the Yemeni Government "will need to reassert its authority in various parts of the country" as various armed groups are in control of the country.
Benomar told reporters at the UN headquarters after a closed Security Council meeting on Yemen, that in light of recent terrorist attacks and the attack on the US embassy in Sana'a, "The restructuring of the armed forces will need to proceed."
A terrorist attack took place in the capital, Sana'a, on 11 September and caused numerous deaths and injuries, including among the security detail of Yemen's defence minister.
On Thursday, in the wake of an anti-Islam film that has sparked protests in countries across the world, demonstrators in Yemen stormed the US embassy compound, but were unable to break into the main building. The incident led to one death and injured 15 others.
The special adviser, speaking to reporters after briefing the Security Council on the situation in the country, encouraged Yemenis "to come to an agreement on a transitional justice law that promotes national reconciliation" and urged the Yemeni authorities "to make a decision on this important peace of legislation that would help in fact prepare the ground for participation and inclusion in the national dialogue."
Yemen has been undergoing a democratic transition, under the leadership of President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi Mansour who came to power in an election in February. This followed the Transition Agreement signed by warring factions in November 2011 on a transitional settlement in the wake of widespread protests similar to those seen across the Middle East and North Africa and the resignation of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
An element of the transition is an all-inclusive national dialogue, scheduled to take place later this year, and whose outcome will feed into the constitution-making process that is to conclude in late 2013, enabling general elections to take place in February 2014.
The Security Council issued a press statement which was read out by Ambassador Peter Wittig of Germany.
In the statement, the members of the Security Council agreed that the comprehensive and inclusive national dialogue should begin without delay in order to lay down the foundations for a stable and unified Yemen" while expressing support for the steps taken by President Hadi in reforming and restructuring the security sector. -UNifeed