Emirates Red Cresent marks Year of Zayed with plans for Yemen’s liberated provinces

The Emirates Red Crescent yesterday inaugurated the Year of Zayed in Yemen with a ceremony in Aden at which it announced plans for new projects to improve living conditions in five provinces liberated from Houthi rebels.

The head of the Emirates Red Crescent in Aden, Saeed Al Ali, said the Year of Zayed would be a year of giving in Aden, Lahj, Abyan, Dalea and Taez, with a Dh35 million budget allocated for providing humanitarian aid, health care and education.

He said the ERC would supply Aden with new generators to provide 100 megawatts of electricity and ease the power shortage in the interim capital.

The ERC also signed a partnership agreement with the

University of Aden to support its student activities.

“Words cannot express our feelings towards the UAE, its Rulers and people for the support and the brotherly stances in such critical times,” Dr Al Khader Laswar, the head of Aden University, told The National.

Summarising the activities of the past year, Mr Al Ali said the ERC had repaired and equipped 185 schools in Aden, Lahj, Abyan, Dalea and Taez, which included buses and computers in some cases. It also repaired and equipped 23 health care centres in Aden, Lahj, Abyan and Taez.

More than half a million food baskets were distributed to the needy across six provinces of Yemen, he said.

The ERC in Yemen is also working with eight UN organisations, including the World Health Organisation, the World Food Programme and Unicef, to alleviate the humanitarian crisis caused by the civil war in the country.

“The UAE has been standing by Yemenis the entire time. We are really grateful for everything they do for our people, who will be loyal to the UAE forever,” the governor of Dalea province, Maj Gen Ali Moqbel Saleh, told The National.

The ERC’s work is part of UAE’s mission to restore the internationally recognised government in Yemen, which was forced to relocate to Aden from Sanaa after the Iran-backed Houthi rebels seized the capital in September 2014.

The Armed Forces play a key role in the Saudi-led coalition formed to support government forces against the rebels.