U.S. Under Secretary of State Travels to Yemen

Yesterday, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Wendy Sherman, traveled to Yemen. Sherman met with Vice President, Abdo Rabbo Mansour al-Hadi, other senior government officials, Yemeni civil society leaders, youth organizations, and media, to offer U.S. support for a peaceful democratic transition. A Yemeni news agency reported that Sherman stressed that “Yemen’s security and unity are a strategic matter to the U.S.,” while al-Hadi reported on the “crisis’s consequences in security, political and economic fields and its critical impacts on the stability and unity of the country.” This is the first visit by a senior U.S. Government official since the signing of the political agreement on November 23, in which Yemen’s warring forces agreed to a political transition settlement.

In other news, the U.N. Security Council said it is “gravely concerned by the humanitarian situation” in Yemen and has urged for “credible, non-violent and peaceful elections. ” Members of four Yemeni military airbases have mutinied and are demanding the removal of the Air Force’s commander Major-General Mohammed Saleh. Major-General Saleh is a half-brother to President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has since left the country to seek medical treatment in the U.S. In response to a question posed about Saleh receiving immunity while in the U.S. the State Department stated, “Saleh is still the president of Yemen and will be accorded those privileges and immunities accorded to any head of state until a new Yemeni president is sworn in following elections on February 21.”