[28/September/2010]
DAMASCUS, Sep. 28 (Saba)- Information Minister Hassan al-Lawzi has said that the war with the Houthis in the north of the country and the protests demanding separation in the south were a result of foreign interference.

In an interview with Syrian newspaper al-Watan, al-Lawzi confirmed that the Yemeni government has strong ties with the United States.

‘’These ties protect Yemen from Zionist pressures’’, said Al-Lawzi, adding the relation between Yemen and the Unites states is developed to combat a joint threat, ‘’which is the crimes of al-Qaeda’’.

‘’Pressures were put on Yemen to compromise the Arab unanimously and to establish relations with Israel’’, al-Lawzi said.

‘’Yemen's relations with the United States are strong, but not on the expense of the Palestinian people and national interests. Yemen went through bitter experiences of which the most dangerous was the export of revolutions’’, he stressed. ‘’However, it overcame that’’, he added.

What is happening in Iraq, Sudan, and Somalia shows that there were conspiracies to stress the "Zionist entity" and others against Arab countries, including Yemen.

On the crisis between the Yemeni government and the Houthis, the minister said that the Qatari initiative was revived and that things were positive especially after the agreement with the Houthis on 22 detailed points of the six points that were agreed on earlier.

‘’The situations in Saada and Harf Sufyam, where clashes occurred, are not positive and stable’’, he stressed.

‘’The calls for separation in the south were a huge media act that was not yet represented by a leader with which the authority could hold dialogue’’, he noted.

He emphasized that the government, all ministers, and constitutional bodies complied with the clear instructions of the leadership regarding the importance of holding a successful dialogue and stressing peace in the different areas of Yemen. He refused the statements of British Minister of State for International Development Alan Duncan in which he said that great dangers would occur if the state collapsed in Yemen.

Yemen is safe and solid, the minister highlighted. Foreign interference in the internal affairs of Yemen was not acceptable, he said.

He admitted that his country had great economic problems, saying that its main source was oil in the 1980s, which is decreasing. Major challenges facing the country were the large budget deficit, water shortage, poverty, and unemployment, he said.

Source: Kuwait News Agency

Saba