ADEN // Yemen's government in exile flew into Aden on Wednesday, moving its base from the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh, where it had been operating since March.
Prime minister Khaled Bahah and his cabinet returned to the southern port city on Wednesday morning to resume work, after nearly six months in exile.
This is the second group of ministers from president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi's government to return to the city since it was liberated from Houthi rebels in mid-July.
Accompanying Mr Bahah were the ministers of interior, transport, planning, local councils and immigration, as well as the deputy minister of foreign affairs and the undersecretary of the finance ministry.
"We came back to Aden to observe the situation directly," the immigration minister Alawi Bafaqeeh, told The National.
"We will also prepare for the complete return of the government."
Mr Hadi remains in Saudi Arabia. Mr Bahah said in a meeting with the Emirati delegation in Aden that the president would return to Yemen at a suitable time, "and maybe he will return as suddenly as ... the government".
The government said it would focus on taking care of people injured in the fighting, reconstruction of liberated areas and integrating resistance fighters into the formal security institutions and military.
Mr Hadi's representative in Aden, Mohammed Ali Marem, had told The National this month that Aden would be the government's base until the rebels were pushed out of the capital, Sanaa.
Loyalist fighters and troops from the Saudi Arabia-led coalition that is seeking to restore Mr Hadi's government this week launched an offensive from the neighbouring province of Marib, in a bid to recapture Sanaa.
"The reconstruction of buildings is the only obstacle that faces the return of the cabinet to Aden," Mr Marem said, referring to the extensive damage caused to the presidential offices and government buildings during fighting with the rebels.
Aden's residents welcomed the government's return.
Galal Al Fadhly, 42, a building contractor who works at Al Fadhl, a private company, hopes that normal life will return to Aden now that the Yemeni government is back.
"I am happy because I think the returning government will help resolve political issues such as the implementation of the National Dialogue Conference," Mr Al Fadhly said, referring to the transitional dialogue process put in place after Yemen's long-time leader Ali Abdullah Saleh was deposed.
He believes that the government's key priorities should be treating the injured, providing the city with the basic goods and reconstruction.
Prime minister Bahah had previously visited Aden on August 1 before returning to Riyadh, where Mr Hadi's government has remained in exile since the Iran-backed Houthi rebels seized control of large areas of Yemen including Sanaa.
Two ministers from that trip remained in Aden to assist in rebuilding the war-ravaged city. The UAE is playing a major role in the reconstruction of Aden - providing humanitarian aid, as well as financial aid to restore power, water and basic services including educational and medical facilities.
Abeer Al Baidhani, 23, a student at the English department of Aden's University, hopes the government will reopen schools and universities soon "as we want to come back to the study again".
Ms Al Baidhani, like everyone else in Yemen, hopes to see Aden without weapons. She wants the different groups of militia in the city to withdraw. Since the war in Aden broke out, the city has been awash with weapons as various groups of militia spread throughout the city in the absence of the government.
The team of ministers arrived a day after Mr Hadi made several changes to his cabinet, including the appointment of Saif Muhsin Aboud Al Sharif, a former official at state-run oil company Safer, as oil minister in place of Mohammed Nabhan.
The first step to restoring control and authority back to the Hadi administration should be the return of the entire government - not just some ministers, said Fadhl Al Rabei, a political analyst and the head of Madar Strategic Studies Centre in Aden.
"All the ministers have to be in Aden, unless president Hadi has to replace those who do not want to come back to Yemen", said Mr Al Rabei, adding that it will be difficult for the government to run the country from abroad when its people are suffering.
Aden resident Farooq Ibrahim, 33, agreed.
Mr Ibrahim, a manager for the Field Medical Corporation, believes that "the government has to be in Aden to control the country from inside, so that it can oversee the reconstruction of the governmental institutions".
"For me, I hope that the first step will be the reopening of all the government institutions so that employees can return to their jobs," Mr Ibrahim added.
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
