(AFP) - Yemen is to ask donors for 10 billion dollars in aid over five years to help prepare the impoverished republic for membership of the oil-rich Gulf Cooperation Council, a government minister said in comments published on Monday.
Planning Minister Abdel Karim Al Arhabi told the London-based Arabic-language daily Al Hayat that the appeal would be made at a donors’ conference in the British capital on November 15-16.
Arhabi said a total investment of 25 billion dollars would be needed in the 2006-2010 plan to begin bringing Yemen up to the level of the six pro-Western oil states currently in the GCC but that 15 billion would be provided from domestic sources.
The minister is currently on a tour of Europe and North America to drum up support from donors ahead of the London conference, which is being jointly sponsored by the World Bank and the GCC, the Saudi-owned daily said.
Further massive investment will be needed under a second five-year plan before Yemen’s infrastructure begins to approach GCC levels.
Formed in 1981 in the midst of the Iran-Iraq war, the bloc currently consists of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Yemen, which has long had ambitions to join the wealthy bloc in a bid to break out of chronic poverty, has had observer status in the bloc’s forums for education, social affairs, health and sport since December 2001.
The United Arab Emirates acknowledged on Tuesday that two of its pilots were killed when their military aggression plane crashed over Jawf province, a military official said
The official added that the aggressive crashed plane was an apache that was
Artillery of the army and popular shelled a gathering of Saudi-paid mercenaries in al-Moqadra area in Serwah district of Marib province, a military official said on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, dozens of Saudi-paid mercenaries were killed and others injured in Wadi al-Theek in the district, the official added.
The army and popular forces carried out on Monday unique military operations in Taiz province.
A military official said that a number of Saudi-paid mercenaries were killed at the hands of the army and popular forces in al-Jazami Hill in al-Kadaha area in al-Ma'afer district.
A Saudi aggression fighter jet targeted a citizen's car driving in Fara area of Kutaf district in Saada province overnight, killing the driver and injuring his friend, a security official said on Monday.
The army artillery and popular committees launched a fierce attack on Saudi-paid mercenaries' sites in Jawf province, a military official said on Monday.
The attack destroyed a military vehicle belonging to the mercenaries and killed all on board in Sabran area in khab and shaaf district.
Scores of Saudi enemy soldiers were killed and injured on Sunday when the army and popular forces repelled a Saudi military attempt to sneak into Shurfah site in the border province of Najran, a military official said.
The operation was accomplished successfully against the Saudi
The army and popular committees have killed a total of 18 Saudi-paid mercenaries in sniper operations over the past hours in the central province of Marib, a military official said on Sunday.
Ten mercenaries were killed in Nehm district and eight others were killed in Serwah district, said the official.
Saudi aggression warplanes have launched more than 49 airstrikes over the past hours on several residential areas across Yemen, a security official said on Sunday.
The airstrikes targeted the areas of Malahiz and Husama in Dhahir district, and areas Thuban, Masahif and Sdad in Bakim district of northern Saada province.
Yemen to seek 10 billion dollars in aid over five years
