YEMEN MAY ATTEND OIC MEETING IN KUALA LUMPUR

C O N F I D E N T I A L SANAA 000906 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/20/2014 TAGS: PREL XF IZ YM OIC SUBJECT: YEMEN MAY ATTEND OIC MEETING IN KUALA LUMPUR REF: STATE 87800 Classified By: Ambassador Edmund J. Hull for reasons 1.5 (b and d) ¶1. (c) Pol/Econ Chief delivered reftel talking points to Deputy Foreign Minister for Europe, the Americas and International Organizations Mustapha Noman on 4/21. Saying that he just signed off on a memo regarding Yemen's participation, Noman strongly hinted that Yemen would be represented at the OIC meeting in Kuala Lumpur, but probably not at the Foreign Minister level. ¶2. (c) On the issue of UN envoy Brahimi and his mission, Noman noted that Brahimi is a well-respected, personal friend and that he expected Yemen, and the OIC, to support his efforts. (Comment: Brahimi is well-known in Yemen because he was a UN envoy during Yemen's 1994 civil war. End Comment.) Noman focused on the point "we support Israel's right to defend itself" and responded that Yemen also supports Israel's right to defend itself, but "within its own borders." ¶3. (c) Noman delivered a strong message on the U.S. administration's public position and announcements on Palestine-Israel. He criticized the language of the demarche as inappropriate because different words were used to describe similar acts, e.g., Israel's assassinations of Shaykh Yassin and Rantisi are not called "terrorist acts." HULL