Documents Reveal UAE’s Malicious Moves in Yemen

Date: 14 December 2020 - 21:18

News ID: ۸۵۴۷۹

DOHA (Dispatches) -- Al Jazeera has broadcast exclusive documents and videotapes which it says confirm the UAE’s involvement in illegal movements in Yemen, including the use of commercial aircraft for arms transfers, and the use of charities as a facade for intelligence and political work.
The investigation by the Qatari broadcaster covered the Emiratis’ expansion on the Yemeni coast and focused on the Abu Dhabi-backed troops present in the coastal area.
The report revealed the transformation of Al-Mokha port, which is famous for the export of Yemeni coffee around the world, into a hub for the landing and loading of weapons, and its use as a military base.
The port is only about 40 nautical miles from Bab al-Mandeb Strait, and about 100km from the city of Taiz.
The investigation also indicated that the UAE used the Emirati Red Crescent as a front for intelligence operations on Yemen’s west coast.
Al Jazeera said the documents show that the UAE also established detention facilities on Perim Island, Zuqar Island and Bab al-Mandeb, noting that a special unit has been supervising these facilities.
In September, two international civil society organizations for human rights said the United Arab Emirates had hired thousands of mercenaries to carry out high-profile assassinations and targeted killings in the southern part of Yemen.
The International Institute for Rights and Development and the Rights Radar Foundation said in a statement, read during the 45th session of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council in the Swiss city of Geneva, that they "are deeply concerned about the

escalation of assassination cases in Yemen by the mercenaries.”
"The UAE hired American mercenaries to carry out high-profile assassinations in Yemen. They conducted several operations in Aden and several cities, resulting in the assassinations of dozens of politicians and public figures during the past five years of conflict in Yemen,” the statement read.
The rights groups highlighted that the Persian Gulf country had signed up 30,000 mercenaries from four Latin American states, of whom at least 450 mercenaries have been deployed to Yemen after having received training by U.S. trainers.
"They take advantage of the UN’s disregard for their human rights abuses in Yemen to continue their crimes with no accountability,” the groups argued.
"Over 80 percent of Yemeni politicians, lawmakers and media professionals have been displaced locally or globally, seeking safety as they become potential targets for assassination,” they pointed out.
The rights groups warned that "the right to life in Yemen is in extreme danger,” stressing that the situation "needs the UN to offer effective action not just kind words. Enough is enough.”
Aden and other Yemeni southern cities are controlled by Riyadh-allied and UAE-backed militant groups, which serve a Saudi-led coalition of aggressors waging war on Yemen since early 2015.
Abu Dhabi — alongside Riyadh — has repeatedly come under fire for running secret prison facilities in southern Yemen, which are rife with gross human rights violations, including torture and sexual abuse of the captives, as documented by prominent rights institutions.