NATO's Stoltenberg calls for peaceful solution to conflict in Yemen

BRUSSELS, Dec 5 (KUNA) -- NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has expressed concern about the situation in Yemen following the killing of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh yesterday.
"We have seen many people killed; we have seen a conflict which has lasted for a long time. At the same time, NATO is not involved in that conflict, and we are not present," he told reporters ahead of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels Tuesday.
"So what we do is that we support all international efforts to find a peaceful, negotiated solution to the conflict, to end the violence and to find a negotiated, peaceful solution," he added.
Today and tomorrow, he said, NATO foreign ministers will take decisions to prepare for the NATO summit in Brussels next July. They will also discus NATO's partnership with the European Union (EU), and global security challenges, including North Korea and providing support to partners to counter terrorism.
"We will assess our training and capacity building support for partners like Iraq and Jordan. And our support for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, including with AWACS surveillance planes. The Coalition has made significant progress. More than 95% of the territory once held by ISIS in Iraq and Syria has been liberated. But this does not mean an end to the threat," he added. (end) nk.msa