Yemen delays Riyadh donors' meeting amid rising protests

March 17, 2011

The Yemeni government on Wednesday proposed delaying a ministerial meeting with a group of its donor countries, known as "Friends of Yemen" forum, scheduled to be held later this month in Riyadh, official Saba news Agency reported.

"Yemen proposed postponing the group's coming meeting to make more coordination and preparation and will announce new date soon, " Saba said.

The proposal presented by Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al- Kurbi during a meeting with ambassadors of China, Russia, the United States, European Union and the representative of the UN Development Program (UNDP) in Yemen.

The proposed meeting would be a follow-up to the London Conference held in January 2010, in which the forum was created to help maintaining the stability of Yemen and support its government to fight the resurgent al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

Yemen has witnessed escalating protests across the country since mid February, demanding the end of 33-year-rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Saleh pledged earlier neither to seek another term nor to pass power to his son, promising to prepare transferring power to the parliament by the end of this year and calling on the opposition to resume dialogue.

Source: People's Daily Online