UAE DENIES RUNNING SECRET PRISONS IN SOUTHERN YEMEN AMID GULF RIFT
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Agency Report
The United Arab Emirates on Tuesday rejected allegations that it operates secret prisons in southern Yemen, describing the claims as false and politically motivated amid growing tensions with Saudi-backed Yemeni authorities.
In a statement, the UAE Ministry of Defence dismissed the accusations as “deliberate fabrications” and a “blatant attempt to advance political agendas at the expense of truth.”
The allegations emerged on Monday from officials in Yemen’s Hadramawt province following recent clashes between forces backed by the UAE and Saudi Arabia. The tensions prompted Abu Dhabi to withdraw its remaining troops from Yemen.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE, the Gulf region’s largest economies, joined the Yemen conflict in 2015 as allies against Iran-backed Houthi rebels. However, both countries later supported rival factions in southern Yemen, deepening divisions within the coalition.
The rivalry escalated last month after UAE-backed separatist forces advanced in Hadramawt and Mahra provinces, an offensive that was later repelled by Saudi air strikes and allied ground troops.
Speaking to foreign journalists invited by the Saudi-backed Yemeni government, Hadramawt Governor Mabkhout Mubarak bin Madi claimed that “a number of secret prisons used by Emirati forces” had been discovered in the province.
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Responding, the UAE defence ministry said the facilities referenced were military accommodation, operations rooms and fortified shelters, some of which are located underground. It added that attempts to implicate the UAE raised “serious questions about the true motives” behind the allegations.
Saudi Arabia is currently seeking to consolidate its control over government-held areas in southern Yemen, while the Houthis continue to dominate northern regions where most of the country’s population resides.
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