Abdullah Saleh al-Ashtal, 66; Yemeni Ambassador to U.N.
Abdullah Saleh al-Ashtal, 66, who served as Yemen’s ambassador to the United Nations for nearly 30 years, died in New York City on Thursday after a long struggle with lung cancer.
Considered one of Yemen’s most articulate diplomats and an advocate of modernization and human development, he was offered several positions in the Yemeni government but turned them down, preferring to remain in New York.
He presented his U.N. credentials on May 29, 1973, as the permanent representative of the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen and continued to represent a united Yemen after the Yemen Arab Republic and the People’s Democratic Republic joined in 1990. He stepped down in 2002.
Al-Ashtal, whose wife is Iraqi, cast Yemen’s vote against the 1990 U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing military action to oust Iraqi’s invading army from Kuwait. Shortly afterward, Saudi Arabia deported thousands of Yemeni workers, and the United States cut off $70 million in foreign aid to the country.
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