Following are excerpts from an interview with Yemeni ambassador to Egypt Abd Al-Wali Al-Shimari, which aired on Al-Masriya TV (Egypt) on June 6, 2011.
Abd Al-Wali Al-Shimari: "I was officially appointed, and I served as Yemen's ambassador to Egypt for a long time. I served as ambassador to Egypt and the Arab League for 11 years. But I refused to work, and declared my support for the Yemeni revolution. I refused to return to my work under the current regime, because it is shedding the blood of the Yemeni people, to which I belong. Sovereignty lies, first and foremost, with the Yemeni people. Therefore, I refused to return to work in my office, where there is a picture of a leader who is killing his own people."
Interviewer: "Did you submit your resignation?"
Abd Al-Wali Al-Shimari: "I did not resign but I have stopped working, and have joined the ranks of the popular revolution. […]
"The Arab regimes clashing with their own people today are, in fact, clan-regimes. They consider the country to be their family estate: One is a president, another is the head of the military, a third is the commander of a base, a fourth is the finance minister, and a fifth owns an oil field… This is a regime estate called a 'republican regime.'"
Interviewer: "But you served this regime for 30 years."
Abd Al-Wali Al-Shimari: "True, but I was with the people when they accepted this regime, and when the people rejected the regime, through its own channels, both privately and publicly, I made my position perfectly clear. But when I see young people, in the prime of life, being killed by machine guns, and homes being destroyed by cannons and missiles, bought with the money of the people in order to defend it – and suddenly they have become a means to kill the people – am I supposed to accept such a regime?!" […]
