SANAA: President Abdullah Al-Sallal of Yemen on Tuesday [Aug 15] categorically rejected the 1965 Jedda Agreement drawn up by the United Arab Republic and Saudi Arabia to settle the five-year-old Yemeni war.

In an exclusive interview, Marshal Sallal said, “the people of Yemen refuse the Jedda Agreement in letter and spirit”.

The agreement between President Nasser and King Faisal of Saudi Arabia was never implemented. It provided for the withdrawal of UAR troops from Yemen and an end to UAR support for Yemeni Republicans and Saudi aid to the supporters of deposed Imam Muhammad Al-Badr, and creation of a transitional government to be followed by a plebiscite.

During the Arab Foreign Ministers’ conference in Khartoum earlier this month, it was widely reported that the UAR was offering to revive the agreement with Saudi Arabia.

On Tuesday, the 47-year-old Sallal said talks about a “Yemen peace” was the work of Saudi Arabia.

“Whenever there is an Arab summit conference to discuss an offensive against Zionism, King Faisal always brings up what he calls the Yemen problem to avoid playing his part in settling the Israeli question,” the President said.

Asked about reports that President Nasser wished to make changes in the Republican Government in Sanaa, Marshall Sallal said: “These are reports from the enemy.”

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2017