The Eighteen Points

The following list of demands was issued by Ali Salim al-Baid, leader of the Yemen Socialist Party, during his dispute with President Ali Abdullah Salih in August 1993.

Military and security matters:

1. To arrest those suspected of assassinations, bombings, highway robbery, terrorism and other general security violations, and to bring them to trial swiftly and openly.

2. To remove the military camps from the cities, and specifically the principal cities, within a fixed time limit.

3. To transfer power to the governorates, to grant them delegated powers, to implement financial and administrative decentralisation and to set a date for holding elections to the local councils, including the transfer of power to the governorates and establishment of financial and administrative decentralisation.

4. To isolate the top people (the president, vice-president and speaker of parliament) from their parties during their period in office and to isolate them from leadership of the coalition to safeguard unity and democracy and to strengthen national unity.

5. To take practical steps to improve the position of the judiciary and the police authority.

6. To appoint the consultative council equally from among the 18 governorates of the republic, as a preparatory step towards its future election.

Economic matters:

7. To address the economic and financial situation and to take steps to control imports. To reduce spending and the rise in imports, to correct the financial and administrative situation, to stamp out corruption, bribery and administrative abuse, to introduce financial and administrative reform and to implement the law on retirement.

8. To present an annual general budget; to apply it and not to depart from it or exceed it, and to work towards making the Central Bank subject to the decisions and directives of the cabinet alone.

9. To work on the basis of the Development Plan and the Annual Investment Plan, so as to ensure that balanced economic and social development is achieved.

10. To issue the new currency forthwith.

11. To present a programme of implementation and a time-scale for transforming the decisions which have been taken into practical reality, as regards making Aden a free zone.

12. To respect organisations and not to interfere in their affairs or powers and to work on the basis of systems, laws and administrative and functional continuity.

Local government matters:

13. To implement the swift administrative division of the governorates of the republic so as to guarantee the removal of the effects of fragmentation and strengthen national unity, preventing interference by military institutions and their leadership in civilian affairs.

14. To reorganise the armed forces and security forces on a national basis which depends on providing training, skills and qualifications, and reorganise the position and function of political security on the basis of democratic choice.

15. To agree from the outset to the constitutional changes in order to form a national committee to discuss them, and a popular referendum on them.

16. To elect the Presidential Council on the basis of 1-2-2 with commitment to the principle of working through the organisations and according to defined plans and programmes.

17. To work towards taking the steps to implement the unity agreements and to determine a schedule for their implementation.

18. To work for the state to adopt a total reconciliation process for a period of five years, and to include all powers and political and social personalities to achieve this goal, providing the state with sufficient possibility to resolve what remains of the strife under the supervision of the cabinet.