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Yemen: UAE is sending militias to destroy not help us

June 4, 2020 at 10:53 am

Yemeni’s step on the face of Crown Prince of UAE Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan in protest against UAE’s involvement in the war on Yemen on 27 May 2018 [Elisabeth Kendall/Twitter]

The United Arab Emirates has never helped Yemen but sent “insurgent militias” that worked to undermine the legitimate government, Anadolu quoted an official saying yesterday.

On Twitter, Yemeni State Minister Abdulghani Jameel wrote: “I stress to everyone, I am responsible for what I say, that the UAE has never offered any help to Yemen, whether in the past or since the start of its interference in the country in 2015.”

His tweet came following the donor conference organised by Saudi Arabia in cooperation with the United Nations.

He added: “Whenever the UAE pays, it only aims to undermine the authority of the government… No one can deny this fact.”

Meanwhile, Mukhtar Al-Rahbi, senior aide of Yemeni information minister, wrote on Twitter: “The UAE has never sent anything to Yemen except armed insurgent militias in Aden and they are trying to seize the island of Socotra.”

“It [the UAE] is sending armed vehicles and open secret prisons.”

READ: Saudi Arabia’s puppet Yemen government is hanging by a thread 

On Tuesday, Yemen announced that the donors who attended the virtual donor conference pledged $1.35 billion to support the country’s humanitarian needs, short of the $2.4 billion the UN said was required this year.

Saudi Arabia pledged $500 million while the UAE, the second main partner in the Arab coalition in Yemen, gave no undertaking.

Yemeni officials have several times accused the UAE of forming armed militias in the country and supporting conflicts. It has also been found to be working to break up the country, with Southern Yemen aimed to be run by the Emirates-backed Southern Transitional Council.

In June 2018, the Associated Press revealed that UAE personnel were directly involved in sexually torturing Yemenis across 18 different prisons. Metal and wooden pipes were used for anal cavity checks, while other detainees suffering from sexual abuse including rocks hung from testicles. Many eyewitnesses told the Associated Press that the detainees were naked, electrocuted and left on the floor with snarling dogs. The UAE denied the claims.