London, January 26: Ministers and officials from 21 countries chaired by British Foreign Secretary David Miliband will discuss security plus wider economic and political problems facing Yemen, the poorest Arab state.
Experts warn that unless Yemen is stabilised, it could become a “failed state” like its lawless neighbour Somalia.
But the shortness of the London meeting — it will only last for two hours, on the eve of a bigger conference on Afghanistan — has already provoked derision from some British lawmakers, who have labelled it a gimmick.
Miliband said Sunday that Yemen “has been rising on our radar for the last 18 months to two years”, but its troubles only made headlines in December, when Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab allegedly tried to detonate explosives in his underwear on a plane approaching the US city of Detroit.
The London meeting, called by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, will focus on “how to assist the Yemen government to improve security, root out Al-Qaeda and promote economic and social development,” a Foreign Office spokeswoman said.
Yemen’s many problems — including corruption, water shortages and a dwindling oil industry providing three-quarters of government revenues — should be viewed in the round, according to academics.
“It’s essential that the international community comes together with a collective approach and embeds any counter-terrorist measures within a whole of government approach,” said Ginny Hill, an associate fellow at foreign affairs think tank Chatham House in London.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is expected to attend the meeting, last week urged it go further on development, saying Washington wanted to see “results on the ground”.
“We’re seeing results in the counter-terrorism efforts and we want to see similar results when it comes to development,” she said.
Miliband noted Sunday that the attempted bombing of the plane heading from Amsterdam to Detroit “marks a new phase” in the approach of Al-Qaeda’s Arabian branch as it was the first time it had struck in the US rather than the Middle East.
Yemen stepped up the fight this month with a military crackdown against Al-Qaeda, thought to be hiding in mountains east of Sanaa, and has also stopped granting entry visas on arrival at airports to stop militants coming in.
Some opposition lawmakers in Britain have questioned how much the meeting can do, given its short timetable, but Miliband insists it can be “a useful contribution to what is a dangerous situation”.
—Agencies