Helping Yemen get back on its feet

Today, 39 countries and international organisations will meet in Riyadh for the first Friends of Yemen Ministerial meeting in nearly two years. The deplorable attack in Sana’a on Monday and the on-going fight against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula illustrates the scale of the security threat facing Yemen. But we must not forget the precarious humanitarian, economic and political situation in Yemen which must be addressed with equal determination and urgency.

With our Friends of Yemen co-chairs, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Yemen, the British Government has been at the forefront in helping Yemen tackle its problems. We are committed to pushing Yemen higher up the international community’s agenda – now is the time to re-energise our partners and work together to help Yemen back on the road to a more secure and prosperous future.

Yemen has come a long way since the protests in 2011. At the height of the Arab Spring, we witnessed a political awakening among hundreds of thousands of Yemenis, unhappy with their Government and calling for changes to address Yemen’s economic and humanitarian crises.

Following almost a year of political stalemate and civil unrest, former President Saleh agreed to a peaceful transfer of power as part of the process of political transition brokered by the Gulf States. In February Yemenis turned out in mass numbers to demonstrate their support for political change by electing President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi.  This was only the initial part of a process which will lead to greater involvement from all Yemeni people – not least women and youth.

Yemen’s successful first-phase of political transition is an example of what can be achieved with the right levels of determination and robust international support, in particular from the Gulf States and the UN.

The international community must now help Yemen build on the momentum of Hadi’s inauguration to deliver real and practical reform for its people.

This is no easy task. President Hadi and his power-sharing government face huge challenges. Yemen continues to suffer major security challenges and the country lacks political and economic stability.

The Yemeni economy was already in a fragile state before last year’s upheavals and the country remains the poorest in the Middle East, with high unemployment and illiteracy, desperately inadequate services and infrastructure.

Conflict in Yemen and in neighbouring countries has added to Yemen’s problems.  Nearly half a million Yemenis have been displaced by conflict in the north of the country and violence in the south. Yemen’s people have been caught in the middle of armed conflict for too long and their capacity to cope for very much longer is at serious risk.  According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, around 10 million Yemenis are without reliable access to food, with nearly one million children under the age of five believed to be suffering from acute malnutrition.

Mindful of all the challenges facing Yemen, we go to Riyadh committed to working with the Yemeni government and our partners to support Yemen in its transition process, establishing concrete steps for economic, political and security reform. It is fitting that this meeting will be held in Saudi Arabia, a country which has done so much to ease the suffering of Yemen’s people.

We look forward to discussing the Yemeni Government’s action plans for reform and how the international community can provide real assistance over the next two years.

Yemen’s plans must include inclusive national dialogue, bringing Yemenis together to find a consensus on future constitutional reform and elections. We also hope to see progress on the proposed transitional justice law, designed to facilitate reconciliation and compensation. It is important that these reforms are implemented in line with the timeline agreed in the GCC initiative.

Only by tackling the instability caused by the on-going security, political and economic challenges can Yemen begin to get back on its feet and feed its people effectively.

While we help Yemen to do this, it is our duty as responsible members of the international community to act to alleviate the effects of poverty in Yemen.  The British Government continues to provide substantial aid and assistance to Yemen to help alleviate the serious humanitarian crisis gripping the country.

While Friends of Yemen will focus on political reform, we will be preparing the ground for a meeting of donors, expected before Ramadan in July, and encouraging other nations to increase their contributions to the UN humanitarian appeal.

The fate of Yemen matters not only to the millions of Yemenis who are starving, who can’t find jobs or a safe place to live. Yemen’s future has wider implications for the security and prosperity of the entire region.

If Yemen fails to achieve transition and stability, there is a very real threat of a decline into civil war. This would have a devastating effect on Yemen’s resilient but long-suffering people, the well-being of its neighbours, and would harm Yemeni and international efforts to remove the threat posed by violent extremism. That would make it much easier for al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to use the country as a base from which to threaten regional stability, UK and international security.

That’s why there must be no delay to our concerted action – the cost of failure is too high. We hope that the Friends of Yemen meeting in Riyadh will be a significant step forward for Yemen, where all those with a stake in Yemen’s future can work towards real and sustained reform for the benefit of all Yemenis.