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In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds, and may peace and blessings be upon His faithful Messenger.

Today is the thirtieth anniversary of the founding of the Yemeni Islah Party that was founded on the 13th of the glorious month of September 1990, and it is an anniversary with a special symbolism, where the Party reaches the completion of its third decade, in which the Islah Party has accomplished a rich experience full of giving, sacrifice, struggle, and societal and political activity at all levels. It is a solemn occasion that makes us remember the moments of the first start and injects the enthusiasm of the beginnings into the Islahis' blood in order for the Islah Party to be born again by these Islahis with every anniversary in which we regain the shine of that moment that drew the constants and principles of the Party that it chose for itself since its inception.

Thirty years have passed since the birth of a united and modern Yemen, Yemen of the political and party pluralism. According to this great political transformation, the Islah Party come into existence as a party that believes in political methods and has gone through all its rounds from the very first moment of its inception, where the ballot box was the decisive factor in determining the results of attendance, and the popular will was the ruling reference for the field of civilized competition between the various forces and trends.

On this day and after thirty years of the festival announcing the founding of this blessed Yemeni movement in the stadium of the Al-Thawrah in Sana'a, we evoke memories of the founding moments, the early stages of the beginnings, the discussions, and the great efforts that expressed their ambition in the existence of a national and humanitarian Yemeni entity that combines originality and contemporary to be able to carry and translate the Yemeni nation’s project and its dreams after the return journey from the diaspora and the partial rupture, and the approval of the political pluralism in the new state, which resulted in the establishment of the Yemeni Islah Party.

At the time we remember the memories of that stage and the events and transformations that followed, in which the Yemeni Islah Party was a daring actor and a faithful guardian of the values, constants, republic and national principles of our people, and for this, it made efforts and the sacrifices of its men without waiting for thanks, fatigue or hesitation.

On this day and this anniversary, we remember the brothers and comrades of the way who had the imprint and great efforts in founding the Yemeni Islah Party and leading its ship over the past three decades. And these brothers and comrades departed from our world after a journey of struggle and giving, and at the forefront of which is the head of the Supreme Authority of the Yemeni Islah Party, Sheikh Abdullah bin Hussein al-Ahmar, may God have mercy on him, as well as his departed brothers from the members of the Supreme Authority, such as Judge Yahya bin Lotf al-Fusayyil, Scholar Abdulrahman Bukayr, Judge Muhammad bin Yahya al-Mutahhar, Sheikh Hussein Othman Ashal, Mr. Muhammad Abdul-Wahhab Jubbari, Judge Ismail bin Ali al-Akwaa, Sheikh Mahfouz Shamakh, Mr. Hamoud Hashem al-Dharhi, Sheikh Muhammad Hassan Damaj, Dr. Abdulrahman Bafadhl, Head of the Judiciary Sheikh Suleiman bin Muhammad al-Ahdal, and Mr. Musharraf al-Mihrabi, and others among the national, political and social leaders, we ask God for them all to have mercy and forgiveness and to gather us with them in His abode of mercy.

And we do not forget to remember those departed courageous leaders who shone in the sky of Yemen in all its governorates, who were the torches of light and advocates of enlightenment, freedom, and goodness along with the map of Yemen and over the entire soil of our dear Yemeni homeland; of the heads and members of governorates and districts leadership and leaders of the Islahi work in offices, branches and various organizational units, we ask God for them to have mercy and reward and for their work to continue. We found their effort manifested before our eyes in a national struggle movement that is clinging to the republic, rejecting tyranny and individual rule and based on a cultural awareness drawn from our great Islamic values that urge justice and equality, this freed cultural awareness that we would not have enjoyed without the grace of God and the efforts of the founders.

Today, here the sons of the Islah Party are, on their obligation and on the path of those who preceded them, racing to support Yemen and sacrifice for it and guard the people’s republic and the citizen’s state. And the past three decades have proven that the Islah Party was rightly and well-deservedly the pioneer that does not lie to its people nor let them down when they are exposed to tribulations.

On this great occasion and memory of which the language of feelings and love prevails, through which I address my brothers and sisters from the righteous men and women of the Islah Party, who are the hope of Yemen, its best knights, its elite loyal to it, and the shine of its sun, which the moment of its eternal sunshine has become close, God willing.

Brothers and sisters, members of the Yemeni Islah Party, its fans, and those betting on it:

You should be confident that your big Party will remain as big as your dreams and the size of Yemen, in its sacrifice, acceptance of partners, and loyalty to the generous principles and values that we inherited from our lofty Yemeni civilization and learned them from our true Islamic religion and gained them from the experiences of nations and peoples around us.

I address a sincere message from my heart to my brothers and to all citizens in the areas under the grip of the remnants of the imamate:

We salute your steadfastness and sacrifice, and live your suffering, patience and steadfastness in order to preserve your identity and the identity of the country and protect it from melting away in front of this arrogant Houthi arrogance imbued with backwardness, racism and blind intolerance.

As much as you face from the racist militia practices of exclusion, harassment, threats, arrests, and unprecedented brutal torture, every free and fair person can only stand with respect and reverence; A stand of glory and appreciation in front of what you have done for years of steadfastness without bending, conceding or vanishing. We salute the abductees who were absent by the Imamate priesthood, foremost of them the member of the Supreme Authority of the Islah Party, Mr. Muhammad Qahtan, Major General Mahmoud al-Subaihi, Major General Nasser Mansour Hadi, and Major General Faisal Rajab, and dozens of journalists, foremost of whom those who the militia decided to execute, hundreds of politicians, and all those who were disappeared in the cells of the Houthi militia from the Islahis and all the patriotic forces, who were abducted after the events of December 2017.

We have the 30th anniversary of founding at a time when your party, with its cadres, efforts, and capabilities, has a bias for the choice of its people, who have been exposed to the most serious threat in their republican career. There is no one among you who does not play a struggle role according to his position, he/she performs his/her duty to the fullest, and you will remain as fighters because you are the sun and the light of the country, and by your efforts with all the honorable ones, will return to Yemen its radiance and the republic being born again, God willing.

We address you today in the month of September when the Yemeni revolution was the mother and their most prominent achievement, in which the people emerged 58 years ago to the light and the world, and they left the margin and declared it as the republic of mankind and the authority of justice and decent life, and here they are once again fighting against the same priestly imamate in its new Houthi version and fighting against it in the battle that will be victorious and the last, God willing.

Brothers and sisters, members of our proud Party, the masses of the steadfast and resistant Yemeni people, and all political parties, I would like to remind you on this occasion that is dear to our hearts, of our need to overcome the controversies and remains of past political conflicts in all their regional, partisan and sectarian forms, and our need for rapprochement between all the people of our country because we are on one ship from which either we escape together or sink together.

The logic of the historical moment requires that we put all our small goals aside, and direct our efforts towards one goal, which is to restore the lost state, where there is no value to any competition now in the absence of the basic foundations of the state, every gain is worthless as long as our big house is looted and destroyed by the gangs outside the law. We need to secure the wall of the homeland with a republican fence and establish the rules of its federal state, then each party after that must strive to achieve its legitimate goals under the roof of the great homeland in accordance with the constitution and the organizing laws.

Brothers and Sisters:

On this anniversary and occasion, the Yemeni Islah Party addresses the masses of our honorable Yemeni people, with its political forces and components in the foreground, stressing the need for partnership and cooperation between all honorable and sincere efforts in the manner in which it achieves good for the country.

At a time when the Yemeni Islah Party renews its emphasis on the national partnership to start from a steadfast position reinforced by the facts of history and the facts of the political experience, where we in the Islah Party are proud of the fact that we have never been taken exclusive possession of state authority or monopoly on the opposition. We have said, and we still say, and we will keep repeating that no one can take exclusive possession of the country's decision or express its choice alone, and this is what was translated by the positions of the Islah Party over the past three decades stemming from the keenness on partnership and sincerity of alliances, most notably the experience of the tripartite coalition between the Yemeni Islah Party, the General People's Congress and the Yemeni Socialist Party, as well as the experience of the alliance between the Yemeni Islah Party and the General People's Congress, and the experience of the Joint Meeting Parties.

The experience of the alliance between the Yemeni Islah Party and the General People's Congress was evidence of the Islah Party’s seriousness in partnering for the sake of major interests and protecting national constants. Our alliance with our comrades in the General People's Congress Party was during the ruling coalition and this alliance continued until 1997, when the brothers in the General People's Congress, according to their political assessments at the time, tended to take exclusive possession of the general decision, which prompted the Islah Party to move with its full political and social weight towards the opposition as a normal and automatic position in order to create a political balance that protects the political margin and the nascent democracy in the country. Alliances, from the point of view of the Islah Party, are nothing but a means to expand the space of political participation and strengthen the society's position in the face of the ascendancy of power, and these are the criteria that governed the Islahian experience and its various alliances.

The experience of the Joint Meeting Parties, which was established between the Yemeni Islah Party and the opposition Coordination Council Parties, was also another pioneering experience to be added to the balance of the Islah Party and its comrades, where the Islah Party sided with it and extended the bridges of relationship with the opposition parties despite its position as a partner in the government of 1996, in a way that protects freedoms, pluralism of parties, fair parliamentary elections, and handles the results of crises. This conglomerate has been developing for more than a decade and a half. Through this conglomerate, the Islah Party was the most careful, loyal and biased towards the option of partnership and public interest. Through its position in this bright experience, the Islah Party has achieved a historic reconciliation between the main opposition components, not only in order to confront the transgression of power and create a balance in its acceptable level at the time within the political system but in order to protect society from the divisions resulting from the experience of the historical conflict that the country witnessed between opposition political forces in the decades following the two revolutions.

And here is the Islah Party today, with its brothers among the leaders of the national forces, involves in the broad framework of the national alliance that was announced and signed upon in the presence and patronage of His Excellency President of the Republic Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi in the city of Sayun. We hope that it will be a true effective coalition that protects the country from the dangers to which it is exposed and rises above the trivial issues, where there are no gains or privileges without a generous and stable homeland. There will be no homeland for us without the concerted efforts of all honorable people to defeat and overthrow the imamate, restore the state and build a federal republic system that accommodates everyone and protects the interests of everyone.

As long as the Islah Party sees the partnership as a basis for establishing a healthy political life, and in order to achieve this goal, it has accepted sacrificing immediate gains in favor of the greater goal represented in strengthening bridges of trust between political action partners and strengthening the language of communication among all. And despite the unjust and systematic campaigns to which the Islah Party is exposed, our Party remained to adhere to the policy of extended bridges, believing that they were the most successful way to establish a stable political life, bypassing tensions and the legacy of rupture between the various forces, in a manner that paved the way for a future of lesser loads, moving towards the hoped-for tomorrow and a spacious homeland for all. Thus, the Islah Party continued to prioritize the principle over gain, regardless of the size of the sacrifice that it has to pay to preserve the policy and its established principles.

The terrorist Houthi militia’s aggression suffered by the country aims at killing its people, destroying its infrastructure, tearing its social fabric, razing its Arab-Islamic identity, changing educational curricula and replacing it with an identity that is foreign to the Yemeni people. And this requires the mobilization of all efforts to end the battle of restoring the state’s authority and the logic of politics. It is unpermissible to keep our Yemeni society under the control of a gang that confiscates its freedom and denies its most basic political and human rights, and supplying this national battle with the resources, expertise and qualitative tools it needs and provides the sincere will and utmost determination from all state institutions, sectors, currents, and national components, and with everyone siding with the heroes in the fields, and to rise above the plot and intrigue that destroyed and exhausted the country, and with our thanks and appreciation for the efforts of the Arab Alliance led by the brothers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and for what they did to restore the state and end the coup; We look forward to more qualitative efforts and experiences, and our generous Yemeni people will be loyal and magnanimous in returning the favor to those who supported them in their ordeal, from which they will rise loud and strong soon, God willing.

In the same context, we call on the international community to play its role in curbing the terrorist Houthi militia rebelling against the state in accordance with the UN resolutions, especially the resolution No. 2216, which remains a roadmap for bringing peace and ending the war, and that the leniency in implementing this decision by the international community contributed to extending the war period and keeping the Yemeni people as a victim of this tragic situation, and as proof of that, the policy of double standards in not dealing firmly with the Houthi militia in its targeting of civilians in Marib with internationally banned weapons, in contrast to the behavior of the international community during the army's approach to Hodeidah. All these persistent behaviors by the Houthi group confirm that we are facing a gang addicted to war and feeding on it and has no willingness to hand over its arms and undo its disastrous decision to rebel against the state and continue its war against the Yemenis and the disownment of the Stockholm Agreement, and its use of the Safir reservoir which is exposed to damage, which will cause catastrophic environmental damage known to everyone. Based on these years-long facts, everyone is assured that the appropriate way to curb the militia and restore the political path is the complete international bias of the legitimate authority according to International Resolution 2216 and the rest of the international resolutions and enabling it to play its role in protecting civilians, ending the coup and resuming the political process. It has been proven for years that prosthetic solutions will not give Yemen the true peace it deserves.

What the Houthi militia embodies today is a blatant example of the abominable racism in its supremacy of the Yemeni people and the attempt to subjugate them by force, the desire to dominate them and confiscate their political freedom and economic rights. It is a racism that resembles the racism that the world has faced strictly and meets with it in glorifying the race, granting it full political and economic privileges, legitimizing the forms of oppression and humiliation of any voice that rejects its logic and the division of society and discrimination between its members according to genetic roots. The Houthi group not only claims ethnic and dynastic distinction but also lends theological legitimacy to it, which is something more serious than among all forms of racism that the world has known.

The Yemeni people are waging a sacred struggle that goes towards the same goal that humanity has struggled and struggles today to get rid of and from all forms of primitive allegations of discrimination and sorting societies in a humiliating way that detracts from human dignity and destroys the principle of equality in rights and freedoms, which necessitates the need for the international community to support the struggles of the Yemeni people to the extent that it dries up the sources of racism that threatens Yemen and the world so that humanity can enjoy a better reality for everyone.

Brothers and Sisters:

Here, we direct our speech to the state authorities about the necessity to carry out their tasks in combating corruption and reforming imbalances in the state’s administrative apparatus, drying up all waste sources of public money, and activating the control apparatus in a way that enhances the state’s presence and improves the conditions of life for the Yemeni citizen who is burdened with worries and burdens of living and the overcrowding and multiplication of epidemics on him, and the necessity for regularity in paying the salaries of the state’s administrative and military apparatus, putting an end to the indulgence that occurs regarding this important aspect on which the life of a large part of the people is based, and paying attention to the armed forces and setting up plans that would transfer them to the ranks of professional armies in accordance with professional national standards.

In the Islah Party, we believe that the state alone has the exclusive right to possess and use weapons, and no party has the right to compete with it or to extract part of its powers. And according to this right, the state must establish and extend its authority over all Yemeni lands, and we must all work for achieving this principle and rejecting the militias that arise and multiply outside the context of the state. And here we reaffirm the need to build the army and security on national foundations that override the previous problems and the outcomes resulting from them in accordance with the laws of service in the military and security institutions and the outcomes of the National Dialogue in a manner that ensures that these two institutions carry out their constitutional and legal duty in protecting institutions and acquisitions, defending the homeland, preventing any parallel military and security apparatus or formations, and restoring citizens’ confidence in these two institutions. In this context, Islah Party salutes the heroes of our distinguished national army who wield heroic epics in confronting the Houthi coup militias and commends their enormous sacrifices in the battle to end the coup and restore the state and the liberation of Yemen. And we stress the government to give them the attention that befits their donation and effort for the sake of Yemen, paying their salaries regularly, and provide the army with the necessary capabilities and requirements on all fronts. We also stress the care of the families of the martyrs, the wounded, the handicapped and fulfilling their sacrifices.

On the other hand, we call for an end to the deterioration of the Yemeni riyal exchange rate, activating the role of the Central Bank and legal procedures within the state’s banking system and monitoring the banking sector in a way that prevents the coup militia from tampering with the exchange rate and working out solutions to manipulate the old and new currency and the difference deducted by the militia during the transfer and conversion of the currency.

In this context, we stress the need to stop the catastrophe caused by the survival of the central control of communications and the Internet by the Houthi militia, and we emphasize that urgent action in this context is not likely to be postponed, whatever the justifications, and we call for accountability for any party that creates excuses or puts obstacles in front of the procedures for the transfer of central control in the communications and the Internet from the hands of the Houthi militia, to be under the supervision, management and control of the institutions concerned with the legitimacy.

We also do not forget to recall the role of the state towards the families of the martyrs, the wounded and the forcibly disappeared, for those who sacrificed the country with their lives must remain at the top of the list of all our priorities in a way that provides their families with the conditions for a decent life they deserve, where it is not permissible to expose them to the humiliation of need and the pain of claiming rights for which they poured blood and offered some of the body.

Also, we must not forget the great vanguards of the enlightenment in any country, those students and those who left the homeland to continue their education in foreign countries, but the effects of the war affected them in the land of the diaspora and disrupted their path. And therefore, we call on the government to deal carefully with their cause and work with all interest to continue paying their dues in order to be able to continue their journey without distress, these are a window of hope for the future of the country and the vanguard that will take upon itself to repair the scars of war in their country after stabilizing life. We also stress the need to pay attention to expatriates and give them the necessary care as they are one of the tributaries of the Yemeni economy.

In order for the legitimacy to restore the initiative, we urgently demand the necessity of implementing the provisions of the Riyadh Agreement in accordance with the acceleration mechanism and the agreed timetable. Every day that passes without making progress in this regard means further weakening the Yemeni state and disrupting its supposed role in confronting the Houthi coup, the party benefiting from the freezing of this Agreement or obstructing it. The Riyadh Agreement represented the most appropriate solution to strengthen the position of the state and the complete return of its institutions to enable it to serve its citizens who live in extremely dangerous security and severe living conditions and suffer from an insane increase in exchange rates and its reflection on the value of products. And we, in the Islah Party, believe that the implementation of the Riyadh Agreement is a necessary introduction to restore respect for the state and improve the living conditions of citizens, which is an important entry point for expanding the partnership between the national forces.

We renew the position of our Party rejecting all forms of terrorism practiced by all extremist groups outside the law and affirm our position in support of all national, regional and international efforts to combat this scourge dangerous to the lives of societies and international peace.

In this regard, the Yemeni Islah Party calls for the development of a national strategy to confront terrorism from its roots that nourish it and fertilize the successive cycles of violence, a solution that targets the deficiencies present in the economic, educational and political aspects of the country, with what they represent in the state of failure.

Islah Party has been and remains one of the parties affected by terrorism, where our party has, over the past years, been subjected to a series of attacks, liquidations and assassinations against some of its civic, political and social cadres in a scene that represents the basest forms of treacherous terrorism. And with each attack, the Islah Party resorted to its peaceful choice and calls for the logic of law and justice for the judiciary. Islah Party insists on activating the state apparatus concerned with protecting the lives of citizens and reserves the right to prosecute all parties involved in this type of terrorist acts, believing that no matter how long the evasion of justice lasts, one day that we do not doubt its coming will do justice to the victims and take revenge for them from the criminals.

Despite the repeated targeting of us, our party, with a conscious patriotic position and responsible dealing, did not invest the assassinations it suffered in the political conflict, refusing to descend into cheap behavior with the aim of investing in blood, or turning the terrorism that it exposed to into a means of blackmail because the Islah Party realizes the danger of manipulating a file of assassinations for political purposes or their use outside the idea of justice and independent of the demand for fairness.

Dear members of the Yemeni Islah Party, O loyal ones of its supporters and lovers..

O sons of our Yemeni people in every village, city and governorate:

Trust in God, your Lord, then with the justice of your cause, your honor of demands, and honor of the struggle that you accomplish and undertake, and that coming Yemen will come great and broad with the greatness of your goals, the enormity of sacrifices, the broad horizon that extends before you, the breadth of your aspirations, and the greatness of your goals that drive you. Federal Republican Yemen is made by the great souls who set their eyes on the whole nation and are above personal purposes and momentary interests. And whatever the circumstances of the struggle, history will document for you and all the free patriots of our people’s militants their role in fairness. Every affliction passes, and every night is chased by the sun on top of the mountains, and after every illness, there is wellness. (So, verily, with every difficulty, there is relief. Verily, with every difficulty there is relief.) (And Allah hath full power and control over His affairs; but most among mankind know it not.)

I reiterate my congratulations to you on the anniversary of the birthday of your Party and your blessed gathering, and on the great holidays of the Yemeni revolution represented in the glorious 26 September and 14 October revolutions, and the evacuation anniversary of November 30, and we have, God willing, an upcoming holiday in which we all celebrate.

(I desire no more than to set things to rights in so far as it lies within my power; but the achievement of my aim depends on God alone. In Him have I placed my trust, and unto Him do I always turn!)

Muhammad bin Abdullah al-Yadumi

Chairman of the Supreme Authority of the Yemeni Islah Party

September 12, 2020