Yemeni leader requests assistance from EU for its economy and development
-
Alaina
- . February 16, 2023
- . Update: February 17, 2023 1:46 am
Rashad Al-Alimi, the head of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, encouraged the EU to step up and expand its aid to Yemen on Wednesday. In addition to the assistance already provided for efforts to address Yemen’s escalating humanitarian catastrophe, he appealed for financial support for economic and development projects.
Al-Alimi said the EU should send money to Yemen through the country’s central bank in Aden to support the nation’s declining currency and make sure that humanitarian aid is not looted or exploited by the Iran-backed Houthi militia during a meeting with European Council President Charles Michel at the EU headquarters in Brussels.
The Yemeni leader encouraged the EU to become more involved in attempts to bring about peace in Yemen by putting greater pressure on the Houthis to support efforts to put an end to the war and by adopting extra measures to punish the Iranian backers of the group.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ disruptive activities in the region, which threaten international peace and security, were praised by the head of the Presidential Leadership Council, according to Yemen’s official SABA news agency.
Al-Alimi met with Michel and reaffirmed the government’s commitment to taking into account all peace proposals. He also expressed optimism that the ongoing regional and international mediation process will be successful in bringing about peace in Yemen.
The Yemeni president landed in Brussels on Tuesday as part of a tour of Europe that also included Germany. He will discuss with EU officials the Houthis’ refusal to extend an UN-brokered ceasefire, which went into effect in April last year but expired in October without an agreement for an extension, and the ongoing arms shipments from Iran to the Houthis in addition to seeking economic and political support for the nation’s internationally recognised government.
Read | US needs to take action beyond just talking to Israel and Palestine: PA official
According to a Yemeni government official, this is a part of the president’s efforts to garner support for the (Presidential Leadership) Council and the government, their goals for establishing peace and stability, and the role required to combat Houthi obstinacy and Iranian weapon shipments to militias.
A day after Yemeni Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed asked global donors and financial organisations to aid the country right away rather than wait until the war was ended, Al-trip Alimi’s to the EU got underway.
Saeed argued that help to Yemen should not be withheld for the establishment of peace. He continued by saying that his government had successfully rebuilt state institutions capable of managing aid, such as the central bank.
He named Saudi Arabia country’s most important allies during the conflict and claimed that aid from both nations had helped to stabilise the nation and keep it from fully imploding.
Saeed remarked, “Our brothers were there for us through thick and thin. Without the assistance of the brothers, Yemen would have finished.
According to him, Saudi Arabia has contributed more than $420 million in gasoline to keep the country’s power plants and key services operating.
According to the prime minister, Houthi drone assaults on oil sites had delayed oil exports, costing the country approximately $1 billion and delaying economic and political reforms.
Due to the conflict, the Houthi takeover, and their control of the government’s central institutions and the political capital of Sanaa, he continued, Yemen is going through a difficult and delicate time.
