Clashes between separatists, government forces began in Yemen; 12 killed

Aden, January 29: Yemen's Prime Minister Ahmed bin Dagher on Sunday accused separatist forces backed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of staging a coup in the southern city of Aden after they took over government headquarters. Notably, a day-by-day situation in Yemen is worsening as it is suffering from dual attack ie. civil war and another one from the outbreak of cholera.

 

Yemen's PM Ahmed bin Dagher accused separatist forces backed by the UAE of staging a coup in the southern city of Aden after they took over government headquarters. He further called on the Saudi-led military coalition to intervene in Aden, stressing that the UAE was the decision-maker in the city.

Clashes broke out on Sunday between the army of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who is supported by Saudi Arabia, and UAE-backed forces seeking separation from the country's north. Due to which 12 people were killed while many others were injured.

Separatist security forces took control over a key military base and several government buildings from soldiers loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi as residents reported that hundreds of pro-Southern demonstrators had gathered in the main square. According to the local witnesses, “Gunmen were deployed throughout most districts of Aden and there was heavy automatic gunfire and explosions in the southern port city.

Importantly, the clashes come as a deadline imposed by the separatists for the government to resign expired on Sunday. President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi who remains in exile in Saudi Arabia, his administration nominally controls about four-fifths of Yemen's territory, but political and military leaders in Aden now want to revive the formerly independent state of South Yemen.

On the other side, some 75 percent of Yemen’s population is in need of humanitarian assistance, including 11.3 million children who cannot survive without it. While the death toll has surged to 2,235 and the suspected cholera cases has reached over 1.5 million.

An epidemic late last year faded but outbreaks are frequent and made worse by the degrading of health and sanitation systems by more than two years of civil war that has also killed at least 10,000 people and displaced millions.