Yemen says Aden airport will reopen within weeks

Announcement comes as anti-extremist cleric shot dead in the latest assassination carried out in the southern city.

A Saudi soldier guards Aden's damaged international airport shortly after the city's liberation from Houthi rebels last year. Faisal Al Nasser / Reuters / July 24, 2015

Aden’s airport is expected to reopen fully to commercial traffic within weeks, Yemen’s government said, a move that will shore up confidence in the ability of president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi’s administration to control the volatile city.

The southern port has been gripped by violence since Hadi supporters, backed by Saudi-led coalition forces, seized it from Iranian-allied Houthi rebels in July. The airport has operated only sporadically since then, amid constant security fears.

“We have done preliminary refurbishment work on the airport from outside, and now we are working on maintenance work inside the terminal,” information minister Mohammed Qubati said.

“We expect the work to be completed within weeks and we hope that commercial flights would return then.”

Mr Qubati said the airport was being guarded by local fighters recently incorporated into a new Yemeni army, which Mr Hadi had been rebuilding since July, together with troops from the UAE.

Mr Qubati denied reports that UAE troops had withdrawn its forces from the airport, saying there was only a routine rotation of forces.

The UAE is a leading member of the coalition fighting the Houthis and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh in a bid to restore Mr Hadi’s internationally recognised government.

Despite efforts to rebuild Yemen’s security forces, extremist militants from Al Qaeda and ISIL have taken advantage of 10 months of civil war to expand their presence in Aden, claiming the killing of several top officials.

On Sunday, gunmen shot dead a prominent cleric, Abdulrahman Mara’i Al Adeni, as he was heading to an Aden mosque for afternoon prayers.

He was known for his stance against the Houthi rebels as well as against ISIL and Al Qaeda.

And in a rare confrontation between allied forces, soldiers guarding Aden’s presidential palace clashed with pro-government militiamen on Sunday.

A local official said the clashes broke out when the militiamen, affiliated with the Popular Southern Resistance, sought an audience with officials in the palace over unpaid medical bills for guards wounded in an attack there last month.

Six guards were killed and several were wounded in the attack on January 28, which was claimed by ISIL.

Meanwhile, efforts to assist civilians affected by the war continue, with Emirates Red Crescent announcing the completion of a project to supply water to a number of villages in the south and the launch of a programme to provide sewing machines to Yemeni women to help them earn a living.

The twin projects were the eighth and ninth of 15 development projects being implemented as per the directives of Sheikha Fatima, Mother of the Nation, and Honorary Chairwoman of the Emirates Red Crecent, to improve health care, educational and sheltering services to those affected by the continuing events in Yemen.

* Reuters, Agence France-Presse and Wam