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Yemen president sacks key UAE-loyal figures in Aden

Xinhua, April 28, 2017 Adjust font size:

Saudi backed Yemeni President Abdu-Rabbu Mansour Hadi issued a number of decrees and fired a cabinet minister along with the governor of the southern port city of Aden, creating anger among pro-secession southern politicians and supporters.

The presidential decrees issued late on Thursday sacked Major General Aidarous Zubaidi as Aden governor, and replaced him by Abdulaziz al-Mufleihi. Yemen's Minister of State Hani Bin Buraik was also fired and forwarded for investigation.

Observers said that the decrees targeted the two southern officials who are considered as the most powerful figures in Aden and key UAE-allied military commanders.

According to the observers, the standoff and odds between Saudi-backed Yemen President Hadi and UAE have just reached boiling point.

UAE-backed Governor of Aden Aidarous Zubaidi held an exception meeting with his team hours after Hadi's decree but no details have been revealed yet.

Suspected UAE fighter jets hovered early on Friday morning over Aden's airspace and sporadic clashes occurred in Aden. Citizens in Aden fear further escalations as a result of Hadi's presidential decree.

Hadi's decisions to remove UAE-loyal Aden governor created anger among leading secessionist leaders and supporters who called for anti-Hadi demonstrations in the country's southern regions.

The southern port city of Aden is the headquarters of Yemen's internationally-backed President Abdu-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and his government.

Aden witnessed several well-planned assassinations and armed attacks after Saudi-backed forces drove the Shiite Houthi rebels out from the strategic city in July 2015.

Yemen has been suffering from a civil war and a Saudi-led military intervention for around two years. The civil war began after the Houthi militants with support from forces loyal to the former president ousted the UN-backed transitional government and occupied capital Sanaa militarily in September 2014.

The legitimate government controls the south and some eastern parts, while the Houthi-Saleh alliance controls the other parts including the capital Sanaa.

The UN has sponsored peace talks between the warring factions several times, but the factions failed to reach common ground.

The civil war, ground battles and airstrikes have already killed more than 10,000 people, half of them civilians, injured more than 35,000 others and displaced over two million, according to humanitarian agencies. Endit