"We undertake this job and need no foreign interference,” Ahmer

MANAMA, December 22 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Yemeni Parliament Speaker Sheikh Abdullah Al-Ahmer has announced that his country is in no need to cooperate with Washington to confront armed fanatics, pointing out that the U.S. used "fighting terror" slogan as a thorn in the neck of Arab and Islamic peoples.

Replying a question on the cooperation between Yemen and the U.S. in the field of fighting terrorism, Al-Ahmer told reporters Sunday, December 21; "We undertake this job and need no foreign interference."

"Fighting terrorism is an equivocal term. The U.S. uses this slogan elastically and in an indefinite way to act as a thorn in the neck of small nations as well as Arab and Islamic peoples," Al-Ahmer added in a press conference held in the Bahraini capital, Manama, pointing out that the U.S. views "Islam as terrorism".

Washington lays the blame of 9/11, 2001 attacks and the bombardment of the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000 on al-Qaeda network.

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh revealed on July 17, 2003, that his country was cooperating on the intelligence level with the U.S. in its fight against terrorism, denying, meanwhile, any U.S. military existence in his country.

U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has launched a rocket attack in Yemen in November 2003, during which Ali Al-Harithy, a presumed al-Qaeda leader, and five of his companions were killed.

On the other hand, Al-Ahmer expressed his country's hope to be granted a full membership in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), saying, "We think that our normal position is in the Gulf Cooperation Council and it is time for Yemen to join the Council."

When asked about the reason behind avoiding any mention of Iraq in a speech he made in the Bahraini Parliament, Al-Ahmer said, "We avoided any mention of Iraq for the sake of our brothers in the Gulf states, as our attitude differs from theirs."

Al-Ahmer started Sunday a 3-day visit to Bahrain upon the invitation of the Bahraini Parliament Speaker Khalifa Al-Zahrani.

Al-Ahmer and Al-Zahrani have concluded a protocol on parliamentary cooperation between both Yemeni and Bahraini parliaments with an aim to establish a Parliamentary Brotherhood and Friendship Society.