Yemen's Aden airport reopens
July 22, 2015
"This marks the start of the airport operation," Yemen's Transport Minister Badr Basalma said at the airport on Wednesday, according to the Saudi-owned broadcaster Al Arabiya television. "Planes carrying humanitarian assistance are expected to arrive at the airport in the coming two days."
The Saudi aircraft paves the way to establish an aerial corridor for aid deliveries to the south of Yemen, Basalma continued. A technical team from the United Arab Emirates was sent to assist in airport repairs as well as to gauge other urgent needs in the city, he said.
Tarek Abdu, the Aden International Airport manager, told reporters that repair work was being carried out to fix damage sustained during the fighting, but added that airport staff were readying to receive more aid flights. Any resumption of commercial flights could take far longer.
Anti-government Houthi rebels seized the airport in March, having already pushed Yemen's government out of the capital Sanaa. As the internationally recognized government fled the country altogether, Saudi Arabia launched airstrikes against the rebels. Forces loyal to exiled Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi said that they are regaining control of the strategic port city. Some senior government officials have already returned and are working to reinstate the government. Hadi had declared Aden the temporary capital of Yemen after the Houthis drove his forces out of Sanaa.
On Tuesday, the World Food Programme said that they had successfully docked an aid ship full of food in Aden's port for the first time in four months. Some 12.9 million people in Yemen are either "food insecure" or "severely food insecure," according to WFP estimates.
mes/msh (AP, dpa, Reuters)