Praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds, who says: (And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not become divided). Blessings and peace be upon His Truthful and Trustworthy Messenger.
O great Yemeni people:
I am speaking to you today in my current capacity, at a challenging moment, realizing the great responsibility that the Presidential Leadership Council and I personally committable. I also realize the difficulties and the daunting tasks that require every sincere effort, conscience and a brave initiative that are provided with the patience of honorable men and women, derive their determination.
I am also aware, with all the members of the Council, of the difficult conditions that our people suffer in every home, village and city throughout the land of the homeland, which has been inflamed by the choices of arrogance, rebellion and war that were triggered by the putschists on September 21, 2014. We are also aware of the great hopes of our people and we trust their ability to resistance, sacrifice.
It is worth mentioning that we are not alone in the midst of this difficult and decisive juncture in the history of our country and region, as we have brothers who have sacrificed their blood and money for the sake of Yemen, those are our brothers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
We are witnessing today a new phase of a special nature and different challenges, all resulting from the war imposed on all Yemenis by the coup militias.
Exceptional circumstances have made it imperative for us to assume our national responsibility based on the basis of consensus and partnership to build a future that will make peace and goodness for our people, God willing.
Here, we must extend our sincere thanks to the former president, Mr. Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, for his heroic, courageous roles and his great sacrifices for the sake of our country. We appreciate him along with the Yemeni people as a whole, for those efforts and sacrifices; the last of which is the transfer of power in an inspiring civilized manner, in which the characteristics of leadership and clarity of vision are evident, and in which the national interest prevails over everything else.
We also extend our thanks and appreciation to the former Vice President, Mr. Ali Mohsen Saleh, for all that he rendered ably and courageously in the service of Yemen and its people.
Brothers, sisters, sons and daughters:
The Presidential Leadership Council, which is proceeding in the spirit of one team, is committed before the entire Yemeni people, in the north and south, to walk on the basis of partnership and national consensus to confront all political, military, security, economic and social challenges, chief among them is ending the coup and war, restoring the state, peace and stability, addressing the economic and living situation, and rebuilding and stabilizing institutions in the temporary capital, Aden, throughout the entire national territory.
We say it very clearly that the Council will strive with all effort and sincerity for peace and will continue to extend its hand for a just and sustainable peace that preserves the state, its constitutional institutions, its republican system and national unity.
Peace that promotes equal citizenship, freedom, social justice, and a system of rights and freedoms.
Peace that is based on the free popular will and restores the state of national consensus as manifested in the outcomes of the comprehensive National Dialogue Conference and the transitional agreement organized by the Gulf initiative and its executive mechanism and the Riyadh Agreement.
The Council is committed to the international consensus on the Yemeni issue represented by the relevant international resolutions, foremost of which is Resolution 2216.
Oh, our great people.
The military and security institution is one of the most important pillars of stability, and our mission is to preserve it, both individuals and institutions, to strengthen its role in protecting the homeland and its sovereignty and preserving the gains of the Yemeni revolutions in September and October. It is a collective responsibility that we must all share as leadership, components and political parties.
Achieving security stability and the unity of the military and security institution is the basis from which the Presidential Leadership Council and the government will launch to meet the challenges of restoring the state and its institutions, and achieving peace and stability. We will pay special attention to the military and security institutions, raise their capabilities and efficiency, devote law enforcement authorities, protect citizens, and enhance state stability.
The Presidential Leadership Council will pay great attention to the issue of combating terrorism in all its forms by rehabilitating and developing the agencies entrusted with this grave national task, in close cooperation with our fraternal allies and partners in the international community, as well as securing international navigation, protecting Yemeni shores and combating smuggling.
Dear Sisters and Brothers:
The economic and livelihood file represents one of the most important priorities of the Presidential Leadership Council, starting with:
The regularity of paying salaries to all public service employees, the regularity and improvement of the salaries of the heroes of the armed and security forces, the pensions of the martyrs and the wounded, the regularity of pension payments, the stabilization of currency rates, the collection of all state revenues, the increase in exports, the rationalization of expenditures, and the work to provide the appropriate environment for investment in a way that leads to reducing unemployment and stimulating growth economic control, controlling price hikes, improving services, stopping economic deterioration, and improving the livelihood of all Yemeni people.
In this context, the Presidential Leadership Council thanks the brothers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for the urgent and generous grant of 3 billion and 300 million dollars, as well as their invitation to an international conference to support the Yemeni economy, the Central Bank and to provide oil derivatives.
We direct the government to expedite the development of programs related to the absorption of grants and the development of mechanisms that enhance transparency and ensure full benefit from that grant.
We confirm that the Council will directly supervise the activation of oversight bodies, ensure the effectiveness of anti-corruption policies and enhance transparency and governance.
The Council also gives, among its main priorities, great attention to the wounded of the armed forces, security and popular resistance. It directs the government to establish a “comprehensive national body to handle the file of the wounded” subject to the direct supervision of the Presidency of the Government, to develop clear policies and mechanisms to deal with this important file, to mobilize the financial, human and technical capabilities necessary to provide full care for families of the martyrs and the wounded.
The Council also pays great attention to the issues of the displaced and directs the government to redouble its efforts to alleviate the harsh conditions affecting the displaced in various parts of the country. The Council calls on the brothers and the international community to provide more support and care for the displaced.
The Council will focus on the social issue, addressing the effects of war, preserving the social integrity, national and cultural identity, and paying attention to the aspect of relief and humanitarian aid in the next phase in order to help reducing the human tragedy, alleviating poverty and addressing the shortcomings concerning the delivery of relief aid to those who deserve it.
O great Yemeni people:
The Presidential Leadership Council, with a firm awareness of Yemen’s history, present and future, confirms that joining the Cooperation Council of the Arab States of the Gulf constitutes a main goal that we will seek to achieve through rehabilitating Yemen and developing cooperation and partnership with the countries of the Cooperation Council, leading to full membership in the Council. That matter will have a great and fruitful impact on our people and preserve our country within its Arab integrity and protect it from the external interventions that target the security of the region, destabilize it and drown it in the whirlpools of chaos and devastation.
The Presidential Leadership Council affirms that the basic premise of our foreign relations is to meet the interests of our Yemeni people, and to fully comply with the charters, agreements, treaties and other international obligations signed by the Republic of Yemen.
We will endeavor with every effort to strengthen our relations with the international community and the Arab countries, as Yemen is an integral part of the Arab region, committed to common interests and the protection of Arab national security. We will work to strengthen our relations with our partners in existence and destiny, the countries of the coalition to support legitimacy, especially our brothers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, those who shared us our national battle, our central issue of restoring the state and confronting the Iranian destructive project in Yemen and the region.
O our honorable Yemeni people:
From here, from Aden, the Yemen Gate: the city of enlightenment, freedom and peace, I hail the protectors of peace, all the heroic fighters from the armed, security forces and the popular resistance.
I hail all the Yemeni people with all its components and social groups who are working to protect the republican system, preserving the principles of September and October Revolutions, and restore the national state.
I also hail all the prisoners, detainees, and those forcibly disappeared in the prison cellars of the coup militias unjustly. The Houthi militia took a precious part of their lives under oppression and torture on false charges due to souls full of hatred. We promise that we will do more to release them, restore their freedoms to return to their families and loved ones.
The Presidential Leadership Council, realizing that betting on the future of Yemen is a bet on all the men and women of our people in every inch of the beloved land of Yemen and in all countries of the world, it is a bet on the creative energies inherent in the breasts and arms of our young and promising generations. Realizing this, the Council affirms the importance of empowering women and youth, ensuring their participation in state institutions, decision-making centers, implementing the tasks of the transitional phase, and establishing work rules based on efficiency, integrity, transparency and equal opportunities.
My sisters, brothers, sons and daughters:
The Presidential Leadership Council appreciates the efforts of the United Nations to bring peace to our country, led by the Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General for Yemen, Mr. Hans Grundberg; As well as the efforts of friends in the United States of America and its special envoy, Mr. Tim Lenderking, and the envoy of the friendly Kingdom of Sweden, Mr. Peter Semneby.
We also appreciate all international efforts and sincere Arab initiatives, the latest of which is the peace initiative presented by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, aimed at ending the war and bringing peace to our country.
We call on the international community to support these efforts by putting pressure on the coup militias to respond to the calls for peace, through stopping the method of killing, destruction and devastation inside Yemen, as well as their attacks on our brothers in Saudi Arabia ,the UAE and their threats to navigation in the Red Sea for more than seven and a half years.
Stressing that its highest goals are to achieve peace and end the human suffering of the Yemeni people, the Council reiterates its vision that restoring the state, its institutions, ending rebellion and coup is the firm foundation for a just and sustainable peace that is achieved by restoring the system of rights, freedoms, equal citizenship, freedom, dignity and decent living.
My brothers and sisters
My daughters and sons:
We have agreed to the armistice proposal submitted by the envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to Yemen. We have also committed to a cease-fire and to take temporary exceptional measures, foremost of which is excluding the port of Hodeidah from the established and agreed procedures regarding the entry of oil derivatives ships to all Yemeni ports, and accepting the entry of a number of derivatives ships oil without paying any customs or taxes to the state.
Since the entry into force of the truce, seven ships have arrived at the port of Hodeidah, their customs and tax duties amounting to about 26 billion riyals, and the total fees of the 18 ships agreed upon in the approved truce plan amounting to about 90 billion riyals.
It is necessary to point out here that, according to the agreement with the Office of the Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, all these revenues must be devoted to paying the salaries of civil sector employees in the areas under the control of the coup. Because the coup militias continue to loot and harness the revenues to fund their wars and their continuous attacks on the capabilities of our people or for private enrichment, will not be acceptable.
The Presidential Leadership Council and the government will take all necessary measures to preserve the rights of the state and the rights of employees in the areas under the control of the coup, because they are a national and moral responsibility. As a commitment from the government to its responsibilities towards alleviating the suffering of our Yemeni people; the government has addressed the competent authorities in a number of airports of sisterly countries and with local authorities and agencies to arrange flights to and from Sana’a airport. According to the mechanisms and procedures in place at Aden and Seyoun airports, and to what was agreed upon with the office of the UN envoy, however the coup militias did not stop attacking Marib and a number of other areas, but rather mobilized their fighters and military equipment to bomb civilians in Taiz, Al-Dhalea, Hays, Midi, Saada and other areas.
It has also refrained so far from naming its representatives in the concerned committee to open the crossings in Taiz according to the statement of the armistice initiative. From the first moment of approving the armistice, we affirmed that it is an integrated whole, and that the economic and humanitarian measures are contingent on full commitment to the ceasefire, lifting the unjust siege on Taiz city, and paying the salaries of employees in the areas under the control of the militia coups.
The coup militias’ disregard for the lives of citizens requires the UN envoy and the international community to take firm measures to control the course of the truce and prevent its collapse.
Finally, brothers and sisters,
We extend all expressions of praise, thanks and gratitude to our brothers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for their continued support for our country to confront the coup and the Iranian project behind the coup, their participation in national concern, and for provision of all forms of political, economic, diplomatic, military, security, relief and humanitarian support. These situations will remain in the memory of the Yemeni people.
I also extend my thanks to the General Secretariat of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf for organizing the Yemeni-Yemeni negotiations. We assure all participants in these consultations and the Yemeni people as a whole that the outcomes of these consultations will be present throughout the coming period and we will strive to implement them and turn them into practical programs reflected on politics, economy and society in response to the aspirations of our people to move to a new stage of achievements that reflect the sacrifices and patience of our Yemeni people and their aspirations.
Mercy and eternity to the martyrs,
Soon recovery to the wounded,
Greetings and hailing to our great steadfast Yemeni people,
Peace, mercy and blessings of God.
Speech of the President of the Presidential Leadership Council after taking the constitutional oath
