Yemen refuses to host reform conference without Rice
SANAA (AFP) — Yemen has decided not to host the next Forum for the Future, a US initiative to promote reform in the Middle East, because US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is set to stay away, a foreign ministry official said on Thursday.
The forum was created by US President George W. Bush in 2004 as part of his Broader Middle East and North Africa Initiative, so that G8 and regional leaders, and representatives from business and civil society, could meet to discuss reform.
The first meetings were held in Morocco in 2004, Bahrain in 2005 and Jordan in 2006.
Yemen had been slated by the Group of Eight most industrialised nations to hold the fourth forum in November, but it was postponed then because of Rice.
A foreign ministry spokesman said on Thursday that "Yemen has decided to excuse itself from hosting the fourth Forum of the Future ... because it has not received a commitment from the Group of Eight on a new date."
However, the Western diplomat, who spoke on condition of anyonymity, said the real reason was because "security concerns" meant Rice would stay away.
"The American administration is also unhappy with the Yemeni authorities for allowing Jamal al-Badawi, an Al-Qaeda leader in Yemen wanted by the United States for terrorism, to live at home rather than being kept in detention."
Badawi was sentenced to death in September 2004 for his part in the USS Cole bomb attack, which killed 17 sailors, and which was claimed by Al-Qaeda. An appeals court later commuted the sentence to 15 years in jail.
He broke out of jail in February 2006 with 22 other Al-Qaeda militants and was put on a US most-wanted list with a five-million dollar bounty on his head.
Residents of Badawi's village told AFP that after more than a year on the run he handed himself in to authorities in October but was allowed to return home after making a pledge not to engage in violent or Al-Qaeda activity.
However, the interior ministry insisted that Badawi was still in custody and continuing to serve his sentence.
