Yemen conference fails to achieve much

An international conference has been held in London to discuss a solution to the Yemen crisis amid ongoing tension in the country.

The conference was attended by the foreign ministers of six Persian Gulf littoral countries – Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates – as well as 20 other countries.

Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States also sent top diplomats to the talks, alongside Yemen’s Prime Minister Ali Mujawar and Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi, and key United Nations and European Union officials

Meanwhile, at the conference, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said “root causes” of militancy must be tackled. He indicated that one those root causes is an economic factor as Yemen is the poorest nation in the Arab world.

Miliband announced it was agreed to start talks on an IMF (International Monetary Fund) program for Yemen.

Press TV corresponded, Roshan Muhammed Salih, however, believes that the conference is a direct response to a “bombing plot” on Charismas Day in which a Nigerian “with links to al-Qaeda in Yemen” allegedly tried to blow up a US plane.

Salih said that most political pundits believe that the IMF agreement to start talks with the Yemeni government is aimed at making the country “an economic client state.”

Salih predicted that the economic aid from Western powers and Saudi Arabia will be mostly used to fight Houithis in the north and not al-Qaida militants.