Yemen’s top diplomat: London conference on fighting al-Qaida shouldn’t push Yemen on reforms

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Yemen: London conference should not push reforms

SAN’A, Yemen — The U.S. and its allies helping Yemen fight al-Qaida should not pressure it to carry out reforms or resolve other internal conflicts, the foreign minister said Tuesday, as the military claimed to have killed 20 Shiite rebels in fighting an uprising in the country’s north.

American officials have expressed concerns that Yemen’s costly and bloody war against the Shiite rebels, known as the Hawthis — as well as its efforts to stamp out a secession movement in the south — could divert resources and attention away from the fight against al-Qaida’s offshoot here.

In the past, Washington has cut economic aid to Yemen because of concerns over rampant corruption in the country. The commander of the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan, Gen. David Petraeus, said Monday he expects counterterrorism aid to double this year to around $150 million, compared to none in 2008.

Yemeni military forces killed 20 rebels in a door-to-door sweep of the main northern city Saada and arrested 20 more in an operation dubbed “Strike on the Head” early Tuesday, the ruling party Web site reported.

Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi told reporters that an upcoming international conference on Yemen’s fight against al-Qaida, to be held in London on Jan. 27, should address the government’s war with the Shiite rebels or try to push political or human rights reforms.

The conference, to be attended by the United States and European countries, should focus on promises of counterterrorism help as well as economic aid for Yemen, the poorest country in the Arab world, al-Qirbi said.

“If we divert from these into other political issues that are within the domain of the Yemeni government, we will compromise the objectives of this conference,” al-Qirbi told reporters in San’a.

“The issues of human rights and freedom of the press are all issues that come within the national agenda of reforms … It doesn’t need to come through the London Conference,” he added. “On the Hawthis, we will not accept any instructions from anyone because that is an internal Yemeni matter.”

The Hawthis first rose up in the northern Saada region in 2004, but since August the conflict has escalated into a full-fledged war, with government airstrikes that residents say have killed large number of civilians. Neighboring Saudi Arabia joined in late last year, fighting Hawthi rebels along the Saudi-Yemen border.