21 jun 2010 año - 2011: BP & Yemen contract ends

Descripción:

We don't know when this contract began, but according to a BIJ report in September 2011, Bell Pottinger worked for a time for the National Awareness Authority.

The NAA was headed by Saleh’s nephew and commander of the presidential guard, Colonel Tareq Mohammed Abdullah Saleh. Its board of trustees included members of Saleh’s cabinet.

That contract reportedly ended weeks before the BIJ report was published.

BIJ also said the firm worked for Yemen’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2010.

According to a July 2011 interview with the Guardian, Lord Bell confirmed that company was “carrying out communications work for an unnamed special entity that has been created within the Yemen government to ensure a transition to newly elected government”.

The Guardian wrote that the goal of the communications campaign appeared to be “in line with a proposal by the Saudi-led Gulf Co-operation Council for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to stand down in return immunity from prosecution”.

Bell said the brief was to assist the government through negotiations and within the Yemeni constitution to achieve a peaceful transition to a new government.

"All appropriate authorities are aware of the work we are doing in Yemen,” he said.

There is extremely little information available concerning Bell Pottinger’s work in Yemen. What the BIJ did know came from papers filed US firm, Qorvis, which was subcontracted by Bell Pottinger across the Middle East.

Unlike UK firms, US lobbyists must lodge statement with the US Department of Justice’s register of lobbyists. More on those documents can be found here.

The Yemen contract required Qorvis to carry out “media outreach for print and television media and strategic communications consultancy” for the NAA in the US.

The contract was worth USD$30,000 per month.

In November 2010, Bell Pottinger also contracted Qorvis to place an opinion article by a Yemeni official in a news outlet, as part of its work for the foreign ministry.

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