Yemen suffering from war, chaos and now cholera

CAIRO — More than two years of civil war have led to continually compounding disasters in Yemen. Fighting rages on in a deadly stalemate. The economy has been bombed into ruins. Hunger is widespread, and a new misery has been added: the world’s biggest current outbreak of cholera, with more than 200,000 cases.

The south, meanwhile, has seen the growing power of the United Arab Emirates, which is part of a coalition meant to protect the internationally recognized government in the war with Shiite rebels while also fighting al-Qaida. But at the same time, the UAE has set up its own security forces, running virtually a state-within-a-state and fueling the south’s independence movement.

An AP investigation last week documented 18 secret prisons run by the UAE or its allies, where former prisoners said torture was widespread. The UAE denied the allegations and says all security forces are under Hadi’s authority.

The Emirati role reflects how the Yemen conflict has been regionalized from the start.

With U.S. backing, Saudi Arabia launched its coalition, contending that Iran was behind the rebels, known as Houthis, who overran the north and the capital, Sanaa. The coalition’s air bombardment averted the complete fall of the government of President Abed Rabbo Hadi Mansour and prevented the Houthis from taking over the south.

But now both sides are locked in. The north remains in the hands of the Houthis backed by army units loyal to Hadi’s predecessor, former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was removed by a 2011 uprising. The south is ostensibly under the authority of Hadi, but he spends most of his time in exile in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.