Yemen’s Foreign Minister speaks on the occasion of the 58th anniversary of the United Nations:USA’s domination threatens UN’s existence – Qirbi [Archives:2003/680/Front Page]

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October 27 2003

Sana'a, Oct. 26 – Yemen's Foreign Minister Dr. Abu Bakr Al-Qirbi said on Saturday that developing nations needed not to be marginalized. In his speech, delivered during a celebration ceremony on the occasion of the 58th anniversary of the UN founding in Sana'a, Dr. Al-Qirbi also implicitly accused the United States for monopolizing world power and hence causing a lot of damage to the United Nations' role in solving conflicts and crises peacefully. “Change should be made to the United Nations structure based on international law and regulations and not on the logic of imposing and control he said.
“The control and authority of a sole superpower and its domination in making international decisions in various aspects without considering the UN Charter or international law will limit the role of the UN and threaten its very existence and obliges the international community to stand seriously to face those challenges”

Change in UN demanded
Dr. Al-Qirbi added that Yemen was supporting initiatives to overhaul and enhance the UN structure to conform to changing times so as to protect the developing and vulnerable countries. “We also look forward to the reviewing of the current Security Council formation and expand it to more accurately reflect the facts and changes that have taken place in the world recently and in accordance with ambitions of UN members.”

Injustice causes instability
Al-Qirbi has confirmed that what the world is suffering from today in various regions, including instability and violence, is due to the domination of the rich over the poor and the fact that rich countries are taking advantage of the resources and wealth of poor countries for their own benefit. “The conflicts we see in many countries are due to the lack of justice, freedom, and just distribution of wealth, along with the massive debts on poor countries, which prevent third world countries from development and progress.”

Yemen and the UN
Dr. Al-Qirbi stressed on Yemen-UN relations and the role the UN had in Yemen's development throughout the last four decades. He said that the celebrations held on this occasion “marks Yemen's appreciation for the UN's role while in Yemen and for the massive missions that it carried out and made it gain respect and attention.”
“We cannot forget the role the UN played in Yemen and its fingerprints that were reflected on various development fields and on our democratic practice plus its assistance to Yemen during times of disasters and crises. This organization and its specialized agencies have accomplished many projects for Yemen, specifically in helping fix and improve the basic infrastructure and support the economic, administrative, and financial reforms plus its role in fighting poverty. The UN also encourages donor countries and organizations concerned to provide needed assistance and support for our country in an effort to overcome the vital problems that Yemen faces.”

UNDP pledges support for Yemen
Furthermore, Mr. James Rawley, the Resident Representative of the United Nations renewed the United Nations' commitment to supporting Yemen, based on the UN charter and expressed his desire to work more closely with Yemen in total partnership to speed up the developmental process of Yemen to meet the goals for the new millennium.
Mr. James stressed that new ideas and steps needed to be taken in order to adapt with the changing environment and to move in the pace required to develop along other nations.
“Let us conclude by saying that we are now able to make change.” he said.
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