January 5, 10

NEWS / Ban voices support for London conference on Yemen and terrorism

4 January 2010 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today voiced his concern about the presence of Al-Qaida in Yemen, while expressing support for the conference that is being organized by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in London later this month to discuss the issue.
During a phone call with the British leader this morning, the Secretary-General was “appreciative of the initiative of Prime Minister Brown and welcomed the focus of the conference on counter-terrorism,” his spokesperson, Martin Nesirky, told reporters in New York.

“He sought assurance that the President of Yemen is involved in the preparation of the conference,” Mr. Nesirky noted.

The Secretary-General was also concerned about the humanitarian situation in the country, where fighting between Government forces and rebels has been raging for over five months, affecting more than 175,000 people.

In addition, the two leaders shared concerns about the situation in Somalia, and discussed follow-up steps on climate change after last month’s United Nations conference in Copenhagen, the spokesperson said.

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=33399&Cr=yemen&Cr1=