Emirati aid shipment arrives in Yemen’s Aden

A boat carrying 460 tonnes of Emirati relief aid docked Sunday in Yemen’s restive port city of Aden, as Saudi-led air raids against Shiite rebels continued across the country.

The shipment, including medical and food supplies, is the second from the United Arab Emirates, which delivered last week 1,200 tonnes of relief aid, said local aid coordinator Ali al-Bikri.

Another ship carrying 400 tonnes of diesel also arrived on Friday, said Bikri, who was appointed by Yemen’s government-in-exile.

The southern city, where President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi took refuge until he fled to Saudi Arabia, received nothing beyond those shipments by the Emirati Red Crescent, he said.

Aden has been scene to fierce fights between Shiite rebels backed by troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh and southern fighters allied with exiled Hadi.

Clashes continued Sunday in Aden, witnesses said, after they had raged Saturday in the north, east and west of the city.

Two pro-Hadi fighters and six Huthi militants were killed in the gun battles, according to a military source.

Air raids targeted Sunday positions of the pro-Saleh elite Republican Guard in the central province of Taez, as well as rebel posts in Raymah province, west of Sanaa, witnesses said.

The Saudi-led coalition launched the air campaign against the Huthis on March 26 after the rebels seized the capital and advanced on Aden, forcing Hadi to flee to Riyadh.

The United Nations, which plans to hold a conference on Yemen in Geneva next week, says the violence has killed more than 1,600 people and displaced close to half a million more.

Some aid has trickled during a five-day humanitarian truce, but residents of areas where clashes persisted complained that they lack the most basic supplies.