After escaped assassination attempt Baroness Emma Nicholson: Southern Movement couldn’t ban voters

By Mohammed al-Kibsi

Member of British House of Lords, Baroness Emma Nicholson has hailed the Presidential elections and described the early presidential election held on February 21 as very successful.

Nicholson said that the Southern Movement failed to ban the southerners from taking part in the presidential elections

On Thursday, upon her departure, Nicholson pointed to the high level of voter turnout in Aden governorate in spite of the boycott calls.

The Baroness also thanked the military and security forces for protecting the people in Aden governorate and for protecting her against the violent acts committed by the Southern Movement’s militants.

Baroness Nicholson and two Yemeni ministers escaped an assassination attempt when some militants affiliated to the Yemeni Southern Movement randomly fired machine guns at a vehicle boarding the Baroness and two Yemeni female ministers in Aden city on Tuesday, said security and local sources from Aden.

The baroness was accompanying the Yemeni minister of human rights Horya Mashhour and minister of state Jawharah Hassan to observe the presidential elections.

Eye witnesses said that unidentified militants fired machine guns at the motorcade of the baroness and that her vehicle was hit by at least 4 bullets.

However security sources affirmed that the Baroness and the two ministers were not hurt.

The security forces fired back at the attackers and forced them to runaway.

Local sources from Aden said that tens of militants affiliated to the Southern movement were deployed to Aden city in an attempt to foil the presidential elections.

The militants fired to the air so as to scare citizens and ban them from going to the elections centers. At least two kids were killed in Aden by the militants.

The head of the security committee of the Yemeni Elections and Referendums Commission judge Saba al-Haji affirmed that the elections were successful and that at least 80% of the voters turned out to the balloting centers to cast their voices. However he said that the elections were halted in 9 constituencies five of the in Dale province, three in Lahj province and one in Abyan province due to disturbance created by extremist militants.

Later on the day local sources affirmed that the Southern Militants forced at least 16 percent of the balloting centers in Aden to close down.

Some other violent events broke out in Shabwa province, and in Hadrmout province where the Southern movement militants clashed with the security forces in an attempt to foil the presidential elections.

Over ten million eligible Yemeni voters are expected to take part in the presidential elections to elect the sole candidate AbduRabu Mansour Hadi as a president of Yemen after President Saleh signed a GCC brokered deal to end the crisis in Yemen. 

Baroness Emma Nicholson was head of the EU Commission for Observing Yemen’s Presidential elections in 2006.

She arrived in Yemen last week to take part in observing the early presidential elections to elect Hadi as a president of Yemen.

Emma Nicholson was appointed to the House of Lords in 1997. She is a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Human Trafficking and speaks regularly on health care and education in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Nicholson is also the Executive Chairman of the Iraq Britain Business Council, an organisation which facilitates business and trade investment in Iraq. Between 1999 and 2009 she was a member of the European Parliament, where she served on the Foreign Affairs Committee. Whilst there, she generated controversy through her strong opposition to international adoptions, which she believed had become a market and subject to corruption. The Romanian government implemented legislation to control the practice of de facto adoption as a result, in part, of her pressure.

Nicholson spent a decade in the Commons before gaining elevation to the peerage. For much of this time, she was a Conservative, only switching her allegiance to the Liberal Democrats in 1995 after declaring her disillusionment with the Tories. Before joining the latter party – and quickly gaining the position of Spokesperson for Overseas Development and Human Rights – Nicholson was a Parliamentary Private Secretary to Michael Jack, aiding him at the Treasury (1995), Ministry of Agriculture (1993-95) and Home Office (1992-93). She entered the Commons in 1987 as the MP for Devon West and Torridge. She had previously been vice-chairman of the party and director of fundraising at Save the Children. She joined the charity in 1974 after spending thirteen years working for a computer company, where she was a software designer and systems analyst. Nicholson was born in 1941.