United Nations: The UN Security Council praised plans for a national dialogue in Yemen and warned former president Ali Abdullah Saleh he could face sanctions for undermining the political transition.
Yemen’s interim Pres-ident Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi last week set March 18 as the date for the long-awaited talks to push forward the transition process, after violent protests in 2011 and another year of political uncertainty. The 15-member Council welcomed Hadi’s announcement and “commends those that have engaged constructively in the preparatory stages of the process,” it said.
But it expressed concern about “reports of money and weapons being brought into Yemen from outside for the purpose of undermining the transition,” and warned Saleh and others not to meddle in the process.
It also expressed “concern over reports of interference in the transition by individuals in Yemen representing the former regime” and the former opposition including Saleh and former vice president Ali Salem Al Beidh. The national dialogue aims to draft a new constitution and an electoral law ahead of elections in 2014. AFP
