Yemen
Dialogue
Ended With Ban
in a Closet,
Benomar
Praises Deal
on South
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 28 --
When the
Yemeni
National
Dialogue
Conference
ended on
January 25, UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
appeared in a
video which
was filmed, as
one
Ambassador in
Sana'a put it,
in a
closet. Click
here for that,
here
for a reply.
On
January 28, UN
envoy Jamal
Benomar
briefed the
Security
Council and
then the
press. Inner
City Press
asked Benomar
about unrest
in the
south, even
since the
National
Dialogue ended.
(Back in
November,
Inner City
Press also asked Benomor
about the
Harak or
southern
movement.
)
Benomar on
January 28
replied,
What's
happening in
the South
should seen in
the context of
repression and
pillage of
resources.
In
2007, he said,
it was a
rights based
movement,
including to
reinstate
of those
arbitrarily
dismissed from
the civil
service and
the army.
It was met
with
repression,
with empty
promises.
But
now, Benomar
said, "I'm in
contact with
leaders inside
and
outside of the
country. He
said the
agreement on
the south is
an
achievement
for
southerners, a
just
compromise,
something to
build
on... an
opportunity
for a change
in the
situation to
move forward
including on
the southern
question."
We'll see.
Before
Benomar spoke,
the UN
Security
Council
president for
the waning
month
of January,
Prince Zeid of
Jordan,
briefed the
press on the
Council's
morning and
afternoon
sessions.
Inner City
Press asked
him about a
debate taking
place in
connection
with the
Democratic
Republic of
the
Congo
sanctions
Group of
Experts, about
how to refer
to the Rwanda
genocide of
1994.
A Western
Permanent Five
member of the
Council is
saying it has
a policy
against
calling it a
genocide
against the
Tutsis, Inner
City Press is
exclusively
told. What was
that Benomar
said, about a
human rights
based
movement?
We'll have
more on this.
, 
