First Foreign Cargo Ship Docks in Yemen After Crisis

A foreign ship with a load of commercial goods docked in the southern Yemeni port city of Aden Friday, marking the beginning of a return to normal life after heavy fighting in the area.

More than three hundred containers, order by local businesses, were delivered to Aden on Friday by the United Arab Shipping company’s vessel Venus, Agence France Press reports. It’s the first commercial ship to reach the port since March, when it was seriously affected by the bloody battles of the Yemeni civil war and was almost cut off from the rest of the world.

“This signals the return of life to the port of Aden and this will benefit the city and southern provinces,” port deputy director Aref al-Shaabi told AFP.

According to vessel tracker information available online, there are more cargo ships scheduled to arrive to Aden presently. For instance, the Pollux container ship arrives Saturday, and the Sea Princess crude oil tanker docks early next month.

Several international flights have landed at Aden’s airport since it was retaken by pro-government forces from Houthi insurgents along with vast territories in the south of the country last month. Planes mainly brought humanitarian aid, although there have been passenger flights, too, AFP noted.

Yemen has been engulfed in a military conflict between the Houthis, the country’s main opposition faction, and government forces loyal to its president in exile.
A coalition of Arab states, led by Saudi Arabia, has been launching airstrikes on Yemeni areas under control of the Shiite Houthi militants since March at the request of the country’s president-in-exile.

Human Rights Watch stressed in a recent press release that the coalition-imposed blockade of the country could amount to a war crime.

“With commercial imports accounting for 90 percent of Yemen’s food and fuel supplies, the coalition-imposed blockade may amount to starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, a war crime,” it said.

The ongoing hostilities in Yemen have claimed the lives of at least 1,900 civilians and more than 4,000 have suffered injuries, according to the United Nations. Recent estimates from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs show that almost 1.5 million people are currently internally displaced in the country due to the conflict.

Some 21 million are in urgent need of humanitarian aid.