Ousted Hadi gov. official denies UAE pullout from Yemen

A Yemeni official working with ousted president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi denied that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had ended its military presence in the country.

Mohamed Gezan, the undersecretary of the Information Ministry of the ousted president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi government has tweeted to call on Abu Dhabi to stop arming militias in the south, the Turkish Anadolu has reported.

Earlier, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash tweeted that his country had ended its military presence in Yemen.

“The world is a small village, thanks to the media, and everyone knows that you are still in Yemen,” Gezan tweeted in response. “Withdraw your soldiers from Socotra, Balhaf, and Mayyun, and stop arming the militias.”

Gezan called on the UAE authorities to sincerely support the legitimacy of the ousted Yemeni government.

Hadi government officials usually accuse the UAE of seeking to divide Yemen and to control its southern part in order to control its wealth and influence the vital ports, by arming forces parallel to the legitimate government. Abu Dhabi has repeatedly denied these accusations.

An Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates with the support of Western countries including the US and the UK as well as France launched their large-scale aggression against Yemen, the poorest Arab country, in 2015 under the pretext of bringing back the ousted President Hadi government to power. Thousands of Yemenis have been killed so far as the aggression enters its six years.