France to slap sanctions on Yemen

Chiara Onassis | 13 April 2012

SANA’A: Amidst more roadblocks to Yemen peaceful transition of power France Foreign Minister, Alain Juppe warned that his country would look into applying a set of sanctions against any officials who would willingly sabotage President Abdu Rabbo Mansour Hadi’s attempts to appoint new military commanders or state officials.

The Foreign Minister sternly announced that an asset freeze was in the card.

Moreover, Juppe promised that France would assist Yemen financially by providing much needed food aid to the hunger ravaged nation, adding that he would attend the “Friends of Yemen Conference” and pledge funds towards Yemen’s reconstruction.

Tawakkul Karman, a women activist who was awarded last year the Nobel Peace Prize expressed her appreciation saying France had been a long standing ally of Yemen throughout the crisis and that she hoped both nations to continue on their political and financial partnership.

Always the activist she used this opportunity to attack President Ali Abdullah Saleh, accusing him of destabilizing Yemen. “The stay of Saleh inside Yemen pose risks and challenges to Hadi, citing that “Saleh spark turbulence and turmoil inside the state.”

Karman is currently sitting in the middle of a controversy as local newspapers accused her of “befriending” Israeli saying she had been invited to visit the Jewish state by a women rights group as to bridge the two communities and prove that human rights had indeed no border. Allegedly, Karman would have agreed to come, which widely angered her supporters.