The UN representative for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, has condemned the severe explosion at the airport in the southern Yemeni city of Aden as a „detestable attack“. This violates international humanitarian law and may constitute a war crime, Griffiths said yesterday in a telephone conversation with Yemeni Foreign Minister Ahmad bin Mubarak.
According to the government, at least 25 people were killed in the explosion on Wednesday. 110 people were reportedly injured. Among the dead are three employees of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), as the organization announced in Geneva: a Yemeni who coordinated the logistics at the airport, an X-ray specialist from Rwanda and a budding Yemeni doctor who works in a hospital was.
The explosion shook the airport on Wednesday shortly after the landing of a plane from Saudi Arabia with the new internationally recognized government of Yemen on board. At first no one confessed to the detonation. Information Minister Muammar al-Erjani said on Twitter that the head of government and the other cabinet members are doing well. It was a „cowardly terrorist attack by the Iran-supported Houthi militia“.
Civil war since 2014
A civil war has been raging in Yemen since 2014. The Houthi rebels control large parts of the country, including the capital Sanaa. The government has therefore appointed Aden as the provisional capital.
A military alliance led by Saudi Arabia supports the government and fights the Houthis mainly with air strikes. The country on the Arabian Peninsula is one of the poorest in the world. The civil war has significantly increased the suffering of the people. According to UN figures, 24 million people – around 80 percent of the population – are now dependent on humanitarian aid.
Praise for government
Griffiths praised the government’s commitment to continue its service despite the challenges. „This cabinet is a signal of hope that reconciliation is possible,“ he said. The attack was a deliberate attempt to turn that moment of hope into a moment of conflict and despair.
President Abed Rabbo Mansur Hadi swore in the 24 ministers of the newly formed government at a ceremony in Saudi Arabia on Saturday. It consists of representatives from the north and the south in equal numbers. There had been a power struggle there between South Yemeni separatists and the government in recent months. The new government follows an agreement that the conflicting parties reached in Saudi Arabia in 2019.
