26_September [Archives:2004/757/Press Review]

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July 22 2004

15 July 2004
Main headlines
– President Saleh receives a letter from king Fahd of Saudi Arabia and the crown prince
– The special criminal court holds the second trial sitting for the suspects of Cole blast
– Transport ministry begins naval inspection of foreign ships
– Archaeological discoveries in Nashan al-Jawf
– 52 infiltrators arrested in Hadramout and 60 Somali infiltrators in Sana'a

Columnist Faisal Jalool writes saying away from fathoming the past and its complications and the circumstances surrounding the Yemeni-Saudi relations it can be said that the Yemeni territories regained by virtue of several factors.
President Ali Abdullah Saleh has categorized the issue of borders among his urgent priorities especially after the 1994 war and more particularly following the Yemeni unity. The unity declaration was accompanied by statements by unity officials announcing Sana'a wishes of solving issues of borders with neighbors by dialogue, peaceful ways and direct bilateral dialogue without external mediations. The rule in Yemen has reached to formulation of large-scale international relations and used those relations in pressing for resolving the issues of borders with the neighbours whether through international arbitration, as was the case with Eritrea or by direct dialogue as what happened with other Yemen's neighbours. Yemen has depended on reference to international law for settling disputes without squandering the historical rights as what happened in Taif Agreement. Former Yemeni regimes had insisted on adhering to the historical right alone. Yemen, on the other hand managed to make the issue of borders as part of international betting in the region. Previous eras had confined the questions to issues concerning Yemen and the related states. The former Yemeni eras were suffering from instability and intestine wars, depriving them of orienting efforts to resolve major national issues.
In other word president, Ali Abdullah Saleh could block the way to external interference in the country's internal affairs utilizing the question of borders, narrowed before them the margin of maneuvering, and forced them to sign border agreements based on compromise and exchanged interests.
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