Letter of Mr. Yahya Ali al-Ra'ee, Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Yemen to the APA President (1 August 2017)

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Date: 1 August 2017

Republic of Yemen
House of Representatives
Speaker

His Excellency the President of Asian Parliamentary Assembly,
Kind greetings and next,
The House of Representatives of the Republic of Yemen presents its kindest greetings and wishes you success in your activities.

Attached to this for you is the initiative which was set forth by the House regarding the current situation in which Yemen is living. Furthermore, it is my pleasure to clarify for you that most of the state’s resources including oil and gas, and most customs ports are under the “Coalition’s” control.

And these resources represents more than 85% of the state’s total revenues at a time when the budget of the Republic of Yemen relies by a share of 75% on oil and gas revenues, and by a share of 25% on other income sources and Yemen’s customs ports.

And we, in the House of Representatives, count on your cooperation and support for the implementation of this initiative which actualizes security and stability in Yemen and the region in general.

And please accept our regards,

(Seal and signature)
Yahya Ali al-Ra’ee
Speaker of the House of Representatives

The Initiative of the House of Representatives
Regarding the Current Situation in Which Yemen Lives

In view of Yemen’s suffering from the catastrophic human situation which threatens human life by the danger of hunger, where more than 17 million people in Yemen suffer from the lack of food security and 7 million others face the possibility of hunger,

Also while 462 thousand children suffer from severe malnutrition, as the statement of the president of Security Council described the danger of hunger in Yemen as the harshest of emergency situation concerning the lack of food security in the world, all of which reflects the magnitude of human crisis in Yemen as a consequence of war and military operations on Yemeni lands which have resulted in the death of thousands of civilian victims most of whom are children and women and the elders in addition to tens of thousands of injured and destruction of infrastructure including seaports, airports, roads, bridges, factories, farms and water wells, hospitals and health centers, schools and universities, power plants, communication centers, private sector institutions and companies, public installations, and other public and private properties in the reports and statistics issued by local and international, humanitarian and legal and relief organizations including:
• UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
• UN International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF)
• UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
• World Health Organization (WHO)

In addition to the spread of killing diseases including Cholera which has led to the death of more than 1,700 people as 297,438 cases suspicious of Cholera infection in 288 directorates and 22 governorates in Yemen till 20.07.2017 and approximately 16 million people do not get sufficient water, sanitary purification services, and healthy cleanliness which expose them to falling victims of Cholera as a consequence of the lack of means for fighting this dangerous epidemic,

And responding to the directions and initiatives which have been launched by a number of brother and friend countries and international and humanitarian organizations with respect to the importance of protecting Yemen’s integrity and the cessation of all military operations in Yemen and putting an end to the land, sea and air blockade imposed on Yemen and calling to the resumption of comprehensive and constructive talks,

Moving along what was said in the statements issued by the president of UN Security Council and the briefings of Mr. O’Brien, UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, and especially what was mentioned in the statement of UN Security Council which was issued by the council’s president in Security Council meeting 7974 dated 15.06.2017 regarding the call for resumption of a comprehensive political process for all parties … and its emphasis on the importance of keeping all of Yemeni seaports active considering them the extremely important lifeline for human support and other forms of basic supplies. … And the statement’s emphasis on the Security Council’s commitment to the integrity, sovereignty, independence, and regional security of Yemen.

Based on the national responsibility of the House of Representatives toward the Yemeni nation including its entire political spectrum, which represents all people of Yemen inside and outside of Yemen, therefore the House of Representatives of the Republic of Yemen would like to present the following initiative:

1. Inviting all parties to cease war and all sorts of military operations, and lift the land, sea, and air blockade imposed on Yemen.

2. Inviting the United Nations to devise an appropriate mechanism for monitoring the progress of activities in all land, sea, and air ports in all corners of the Republic of Yemen without any exception … to guarantee the collection of their revenues through the Yemeni Central Bank so as to ensure rendering all state duties including payment of the salaries of government employees and provision of food and pharmaceutical materials and fighting the specter of deadly epidemics which kill the Yemeni people in different governorates of the Republic of Yemen.

3. Inviting the Security Council to shoulder its human and legal role in nullifying all decisions and procedures which were taken during the past period including the decisions of Security Council which led and lead to tearing down and dispersing the national solidarity and the lack of food and health security and ripping the national unity and dispersing the state’s general revenues and damaging Yemen’s sovereignty and security and the integrity of its lands.

4. Inviting the concerned parties to an unconditional, constructive and comprehensive negotiation under international supervision in order to achieve a just political solution which guarantees actualization of peace and security in Yemen and the region and reaching a righteous, national and political partnership.

And finally:

The House of Representatives invites all parties to put the highest interest of the nation at the top of all trivial interests and projects and to accept the other to put an end to the suffering of Yemenis from the scourge of the destructive war and the suffocating blockade and deadly epidemics.

Seal:
House of Representatives