The text of the interview:
Q: We will focus on Yemen since you are here for the Yemeni issue. What is your take on the situation in Yemen? How do you evaluate the conference in the light of the bombings on Monday?
A: Yemen stands at a very critical juncture in its history. The people of Yemen have voted and also voiced their strong support for a new president. A transition government in only three months has put forward a plan for political, economic and security framework in the country for the support of the international community.
Against the background of terrorist attack on Monday, it is even more important that this meeting is taking place here as a show of strong support for the Yemeni people and, of course for the Yemeni government.
It is the largest friendship meeting on Yemen that has taken place so far where everyone spoke with one voice and all were united to give a helping hand to the Yemeni people.
For the European Union, Yemen is a country that we have been supporting for quite some time. Today we focus on very tangible actions in all four areas that are critical for Yemen. On the political side together with Russia, we provide supporting environment for national dialogue. We will provide funding and experts to help the process for the next election.
On the security front, EU funds training of the police force. We will be helping the ministries of interior and justice to have role to give a chance for the Yemeni people that there is a positive change. In terms of economic development, we participated together with the World Bank, the UN and Islamic Development Bank (IDB) in preparing an assessment of key needs so that the government can have a good platform from where we can increase our contribution to it. And last, but not the least, providing humanitarian assistance to Yemen is actually the most urgent task that we support strongly.
As a result of poor governance during the past decades combined with insecurity recently, 44 percent of Yemeni people are in dire need of food aid. Besides, one million children were armed and deployed in the conflict. This is staggering figure and totally unacceptable, as children are the future of every country. In addition about 800,000-900,000 people, displaced from their homes, need to be rehabilitated. Yemen allows refugees from Somali, Eritrea and Ethiopia into their land. They also need to be supported in this task.
Q: We know that Yemen is known for weapons, corruption, terrorism. What is the mechanism for providing this assistance to the Yemen people amid foreign interference? How does it reach the needy population?
A: Corruption is a difficult problem and it will, therefore, take time to bring transparency and accountability at all levels in Yemen. But a long march starts with a first step. We are assisting the government and some local authority to be able to show where the money goes. This is why we put emphasis on our work with World Bank and the IDB as well as the UN to have a common framework for identifying what needs to be done and then track the money that goes to support these projects.
We have a lot of experience at EU in building the transparency system and we are very happy to provide support for that. The combined risk of corruption and insecurity caused by the presence of Al-Qaeda discourages public investment, development assistance and private investment. So the only way to bring about change in Yemen is to address issues of transparency and accountability and on the security side fighting with Al-Qaeda.
We also know that these are two sides of the same coin. When you have development, you have more security, and when you have insecurity you don't get development. We must find ways to provide benefit to the people so they can then believe that life without corruption and without Al-Qaeda is possible.
How do we do that? We have established in European Commission a very strong practice of direct assistance to the people in need rather than wait for the help of highly specialized humanitarian organizations like the Red Cross, Red Crescent, UNICEF, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. We also check one-third of our projects undertaken by one-third of our partners every year. For this, I have opened a humanitarian office in Yemen because I do believe that when you have eyes on the ground you have a better chance to reach the people in need.
But we cannot do anything when there is insecurity and corruption. But now people hope for a change. And we don’t want to do anything that will undermine their chance to have a better future. When people say enough is enough, the country’s future will change for the better.
Q: There are tangible results of GCC, the EU and America in bringing about peace in Yemen in contrast to those who support instability in the country such as Houthis and Al-Qaeda?
A: Peace building takes a long time. In Europe, we have better experience, as during the last century there were two world wars that tore apart the lives of millions of Europeans. And what we learned from this experience is that peace requires leadership, determination and more importantly, building trust.
Yemen has a problem, since we know that the Houthis are yet to be convinced of the need to take part in the national dialogue. But we are facing this problem together, of course, with cooperation of the Yemeni government, of Yemeni people and the friends of Yemen. I actually believe that through mutual respect and trust, even in the most difficult circumstances, peace can be achieved. Last year I met together with the High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Gueterras and Houthi commanders close to Sanaa, because they were not allowing humanitarian relief to come to the internally displaced people in their areas of control. We explained that we would not interfere in political affairs but what we want to do is to help people and nothing else.
Then they allowed access in their areas for humanitarian workers to guarantee their security and not interfere in their work. They have been holding to this agreement and also we have been sticking to our commitment to help people without any political interference. So I draw from this experience a conviction that dialogue is possible and that we have more obligations to have these dialogues because only this can isolate the extremists and can limit the influence of Al-Qaeda elements. Military solution is important but not enough. There must be also a national dialogue and trust building.
Q: If there is no guarantee from the United Nation and the European community to safeguard the election in Yemen, there would be tribal extremism and the problem will remain. What is your take on this subject?
A: It is very important to address extremism and that means to use all available means. The government is quite determined to attack extremists in their hide-outs. But also, it is very important to bring the population away from extremism by creating job opportunities. In Yemen there is high unemployment rate. It is easy to tempt unemployed people to join forces that destabilize the future of the country because if you don't have job you become easy target of extremist elements.
This is what we believe in the EU that Yemen needs comprehensive solution through dialogue for solving its political, security and economic problems. There is also a need for extending support to Yemeni forces, including the army and police, who are fighting the terrorist forces. But I want to stress that Yemen is a very poor country facing very difficult problems that have been accumulated over a long period of time. Turning a country around needs collective cooperation to do so. The GCC initiatives in terms of financial, moral and political support are very important.
Q: The GCC initiatives in Yemen have brought about some stability in Yemen. Is there any European plan for doing the same on the Syrian issue?
A: The GCC's role played in Yemen is very critical because without a negotiated solution we might still have more dramatic fighting in the country. When you look at Syria it is a different situation. In Syria there is more complex setting in terms of who supports the regime and who opposes the regime. It is a different composition of minority and majority groups. A country with very strong army there needs united cooperation, similar to what we did on Yemen actually. But in the case of Syria a country like Russia needs to play a very important role. The issue there also is different somewhat from Yemen, since Syria is surrounded by countries like Lebanon. In Syria there are half million Palestinian refugees. If they move out of the country to Jordan or Lebanon, it can play a very important role in the balance in these countries.
To answer your question, the international initiative for Syria is a necessity; we have the Annan plan. Here there is more homogeneous surrounding for Yemen and GCC is the natural leader whereas in the case of Syria geopolitical situation is different. Therefore, the Security Council and the Annan plan have to pave the way out of this crisis. But GCC countries can play an important role in Syria as well within this different geopolitical setting.
Q: Annan’s plan so far has not achieved its objectives. At least we should see stability and political dialogue taking place inside Syria?
A: The Annan plan must be given a chance to succeed because there is nothing better than the UN in the case of Syria to give peace a chance. For the plan to succeed we have to see an increase in the number of UN observers. We also need the Security Council and the international community to stay together focused on Syria to continue pressure on the regime and also to continue encouraging the opposition to seek a platform to come together with a positive role in this very difficult moment for the country.
The most dramatic development in Syria is how many people are affected by the conflict. We know that there are hundreds of thousands, probably 400,000 in terms of displaced people. We know the number of refugees leaving the country is growing to hundred thousand, possibly more. The condition in the areas where fighting occurs is deteriorating. At the moment the one hope we have is for Annan to drive the six points plan with the Syrian authority with the neighbors of Syria and with everybody else.
We must give the plan a chance. If we start wavering on support to Annan's plan prematurely that is a recipe for failure especially since we all recognize that it is not desirable to have a military intervention. If we can pursue peaceful negotiation to a successful end and if we give the plan a chance we see a dramatic development in Syria. Then it is the responsibility of the UN Security Council to come up with the suggestion and proposal …. And now we have the Annan plan we must give it a chance.
Q: With regard to the effects of the Syrian crisis on the neighboring countries especially Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, shall we expect more refugees going to these places? What is the stand of the European Union and the international community on the refugee issue?
A: The number of people who left for Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan has increased. The longer the conflict continues, the more people suffer and seek refuge somewhere else. We actually have responded to the request from the Turkish government to mobilize in kind support in border-sharing as they don’t see yet a reversal of the flow of refugees.
We are also worried a lot for the plight of more than 600,000 refugees inside Syria, a hundred plus thousands Iraqi refugees and half million Palestinian refugees. With the condition in the country deteriorating, it is always the refugees who suffer the most. We are urging the Syrian authorities to provide more access for humanitarian assistance.
There are some signs of mining of roads leading to the borders and people who want to leave facing difficulties. But we don't have hard evidence but it looks like we have three problems; problems of internally displaced people that are growing in numbers, the problems of refugees inside Syria that are suffering more and more some of them are desperate to leave, and then the problems of those who want to leave but cannot. It is actually easy to help the refugees who are already in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. It is much more difficult to help people inside Syria, the affected populations.
Therefore, our key message to the Syrian authorities, please allow humanitarian operations to be carried out, please, for the sake of your people! Humanitarian workers are not spies they are not dangerous they are there to help.
Q: Let's talk about European negotiators meeting with Iranians on their atomic ambitions as Israel says Iran is going ahead with its nuclear enrichment plan. Do we expect a confrontation on this issue?
A: Actually at this point of time there has been some more encouraging developments because a visit of the International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors there have been more productive than previous interactions. So from the prospective of the international community we take the action of that nature as encouraging and positive.
And we hope that there will be that kind of more constructive development in relations between Iran and the international community more open and more inclusive development and more comfortable for the region. It will be good for Iran and good for the rest of the world.
