UNIPATH STAFF
Continuing humanitarian assistance to Yemenis besieged by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, the United Arab Emirates in January 2017 delivered medical equipment, food, toiletries and sanitary products to the port of Mukalla in Yemen’s southern governorate of Hadhramout.
“The relief operation is being operated by the Emirates Red Crescent, the UAE’s humanitarian arm, to help Yemen,” said Abdullah al-Musaferi, representative of the Red Crescent in Hadhramout.
The ship was the second in a continuous humanitarian sealift being operated by the Red Crescent, which is carrying out a range of relief and development projects in Yemen with the aim of alleviating the suffering of Yemenis.
Al-Musaferi said the agency continues to carry out its relief and development plans in all sectors, including health care and education, to help the population in Hadhramout and support the governorate’s infrastructure and economy.
The assistance comes after Yemeni government troops and allies from a Saudi-led coalition retook the city from al-Qaida after it held the city for a year. Some 2,000 Yemeni and Emirati troops took control of the city’s port and airport, setting up checkpoints throughout the city.
The move was part of a wider offensive aimed at taking back parts of the country from groups like al-Qaida. It coincided with United Nations-brokered peace talks in Kuwait, arranged after a cease-fire was proclaimed in April 2016, and from which al-Qaida and its allies were excluded.
“We entered the city center and were met by no resistance from al-Qaida militants who withdrew west” toward the vast desert in Hadhramout and Shabwa provinces, a military officer told the AFP news agency by phone from the city.
Sources: Gulf News, Al Jazeera