I am completing today my tour of duty as European Union Ambassador to Yemen. I will be leaving the Yemen file at this point, not Yemen or the Yemenis. Both will remain indelibly stamped in my heart, forever.
It has been a distinct honour, and privilege, to have been the main EU face in Yemen these past three and a half years, to have represented the Union and to have tried to contribute, with a fantastic team of professionals in the EU Delegation to Yemen, and with my colleagues from EU Member States, the EU Heads of Mission to Yemen, to help Yemen and the Yemenis address the many daunting challenges they continue facing and chart a path to a better future, in peace and prosperity. I, we, have done this with only one agenda in mind, to assist, to help, especially with the UN partners but also those in the region and beyond, bring Yemen to a better place.
I leave with a heavy heart, inevitably, as Yemen remains mired in conflict and humanitarian crisis, not in war, but not in peace either. There is much to be done, and a diplomatic term is of course insufficient to complete the task. A task first and foremost for the Yemenis, as only they must be the masters of their destiny, with the help from friends as needed. But I leave with the small satisfaction of having tried my very best, with colleagues and partners.
My “Yemen time” has been a peculiar one, as I have unfortunately not been based in Yemen, have not been able to enjoy the unparalleled beauty, and fabled climate, of capital Sana’a. Regrettably I have only personally visited few places in the country, Aden many times, Mukalla too; but through my team and our partners I have witnessed many parts of the country, many lives who have been positively touched by our aid and cooperation.
I have had the opportunity to visit Yemeni world heritage rehabilitated by young Yemenis through our programs, agricultural producers and fishermen supported by our projects, lively school girls, medical professionals and patients that we have also helped, as well as those internally displaced by conflict, and young Yemeni entrepreneurs and artists, human rights defenders and government officials, civil society activists including local mediators, all throughout Yemen, benefiting from European solidarity. Not enough, by a long measure, but important, significant. This is what the EU is about in Yemen, this is what has made me a proud EU official these years.
There is much to be done, much to be accomplished, first and foremost peace, a fundamental endeavour that a country for too long battered by conflict urgently needs. Myself, my predecessors and my successor have and will continue doing our utmost, with UN, regional and likeminded international partners to help Yemenis reach it. Then of course there is much else.
But there is hope, there is so much hope. As I saw early in my tenure when watching the gorgeous documentary sponsored by UNDP “From Yemen with Love”, Yemen is a spectacularly beautiful country, nature-wise as well as with respect to heritage, culture. It is unique and inimitable, endowed with natural resources and a privileged geographical location. None of that will change, all of it has enormous potential. And then its people, thriving, entrepreneurial. Its women, full of determination, as mothers, as activists, as creators, as businesswomen, as rulers (work in progress, a pending endeavour) all the way from the distant past. Its youth, full of life and teeming with ideas and initiatives, as I have witnessed up and close in business incubators as well as creative hubs. There is a great future ahead, I have no doubt.
I leave Yemen, but Yemen will never leave me. As we say in Spanish, my mother tongue, “lo prometido es deuda”, what is promised is a debt. My promise to many Yemeni friends is that I will visit their homes, their home cities, possibly as a tourist, one of thousands, millions, who will visit the country again. Their kind debt to me is that they will host me, as many have so graciously done in their current places of residence. To this deal I will hold myself and my Yemeni friends accountable. To Yemen, with love.