CAIRO — Yemen’s formal alliance with the UAE may be coming to an end after the latter deployed forces to a Yemeni island, without prior consultation with Yemen’s exiled government, a senior Yemeni official said Saturday. The Emiratis, however, have carved out a zone of influence in southern Yemen over the past two years, setting up prisons and militias. In Socotra, residents and activists said that the UAE is building a factory and a prison, recruiting the island’s residents, and creating a new militia. The official said that the Emiratis have taken over all the vital institutions in the island, including the airport, the ports, the government’s headquarters, and kicked out the Yemeni forces. It has also set up small armies in southern Yemeni cities, with forces answering only to the UAE and not the internationally recognized government.

Source: National Post May 05, 2018 11:55 UTC