Yemen's solid national unity

Speaker of the Yemeni Parliament, Sheikh Abdullah Bin Hussein al-Ahmar, who is also chairman of the Yemeni al-Islah Party, said that Yemeni unity after nine years of its realization has become solid and unwavering and there are no risks endangering it.

The Gulf News Agency GNA quoted al-Ahmar as saying in a statement to the United Arab Emirates daily al-Itihad published on Tuesday that the al-Islah Party has announced that Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh is its candidate for the forthcoming presidency and that President Saleh's nomination for this post is based on confidence entrusted in Saleh rather than the result of "an agreement with the ruling party and having a deal with it."

Al-Ahmad added that the Yemeni government bears the responsibility for the deterioration in the value of the Yemeni riyals and the bad economic conditions as a result of the government's approval of the program subscribed on it by the World Bank.

Al-Ahmar stated that border committees between Yemen and Saudi Arabia continue their meetings together with contacts on the level of the political leadership between the two countries in order to close the issue of the border.

Al-Ahmar described the current Arab conditions as drastic and "awful," but he did not rule out a change in this situation if the Arab leaders work to settle their disputes and regain solidarity.