Yemen strongly denies Eritrean allegations [Archives:2002/39/Front Page]

A Yemeni official spokesman has on Saturday expressed his government’s regret for the statement given by an Eritrean government spokesman to The Middle East newspaper published on 19 Sept. 2002 and reported by Modern Eritrea newspaper on 21 Sept. 2002.
The Eritrean spokesman had accused Yemen of “offending” his country as part of a diplomatic campaign, claiming that “Yemen has for four months been standing behind attempts for creating tension and fabricating crises between the two countries.”
The Yemeni official spokesman strongly denies the Eritrean allegations describing them as groundless and expressed his amazement for issuing such statements at this very time. The Yemeni statement mentioned that Yemen has during the recent months been exercising self-restraint towards the Eritrean authorities’ repeated provocations especially against Yemeni fishermen by arresting them and seizing their boats and fish.
The Yemeni republic has worked for tackling this question calmly and through diplomatic channels out of its keenness on brotherly relations of the two peoples, the Yemeni spokesman added.
The Yemeni official spokesman maintained that it was regrettable that the Eritrean side insisted on giving mistaken interpretations for the arbitration resolutions on the concept of traditional fishing. Such explanations are lacking of any legal reason and deemed a violation of the texts of the two decisions taken by the arbitration body on 9 October 1998 and 17 December 1999. The decisions stated that the two countries’ citizens have the full right to traditional fishery in the region situated to the south of the Red Sea, of which the two countries have accepted. The Yemeni government has, at various levels, worked rectifying the Eritrean wrong understanding, out of its keenness on stability of security and peace in the region. Yemen has also accepted the Eritrean president’s proposal of resorting to a third party chosen by the two countries to offer a final and obligatory interpretation for the question of traditional fishery.
The spokesman concluded his statement by affirming Yemen’s desire to resolve all issues of dispute related to the subject in quest in a way leading to the two countries’ heading for developing and enhancing bilateral cooperation in all areas in service of the two peoples’ interests and strengthening security, stability and peace in the South Red Sea region.
The Eritrean government had Thursday accused Yemen of launching a hostile diplomatic campaign against it, claiming of having Israeli and American bases on its territories. An Eritrean statement published Thursday in the London-based Middle East newspaper mentioned ” in a new development, an Eritrean government source disclosed yesterday that the Yemeni government has been for some months sending emissaries to various capitals aimed at offending his country, ” and that the Yemeni campaign included false accusations against his country. The Eritrean statement mentioned ” this campaign contains news on tension in the relations of two countries because of Eritrea’s refusal to recognize the right of traditional fishing by Yemeni fishermen in Eritrea’s regional waters, as well as fabricated news on the Eritrean authorities detention of Yemeni fishermen and unreal clashes between the countries’ troops.
On the other hand the Eritrean statement stressed Eritrea’s keenness on good neighborly relations between the two countries. The Eritrean source has also denied the presence of any foreign bases in his country, describing Yemen’s claims as incorrect and serving political purposes


——
[archive-e:39-v:2002-y:2002-d:2002-09-23-p:./2002/iss39/front.htm]