AFP, Midi :
Standing amid the bullet-pocked ruins of a once rebel-controlled Yemeni district, Saudi officials unveil their latest multi-million dollar aid projects, seeking to blunt global criticism over a worsening humanitarian crisis.
While leading a military coalition since 2015 against Iran-aligned Huthi rebels, Saudi Arabia is also ramping up aid projects across its southern neighbour – from schools to greenhouses and desalination plants – amid international pressure to end the conflict.
The coalition’s bombing campaign is blamed widely for pushing Yemen into what the UN calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with thousands of Yemenis killed and millions struggling to feed themselves. But pursuing development projects in tandem with war is a strategy that Saudi officials say is aimed at cultivating local goodwill while making Yemenis self-reliant in a moribund economy, even as activists question their effectiveness.
Standing amid the bullet-pocked ruins of a once rebel-controlled Yemeni district, Saudi officials unveil their latest multi-million dollar aid projects, seeking to blunt global criticism over a worsening humanitarian crisis.
While leading a military coalition since 2015 against Iran-aligned Huthi rebels, Saudi Arabia is also ramping up aid projects across its southern neighbour – from schools to greenhouses and desalination plants – amid international pressure to end the conflict.
The coalition’s bombing campaign is blamed widely for pushing Yemen into what the UN calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with thousands of Yemenis killed and millions struggling to feed themselves. But pursuing development projects in tandem with war is a strategy that Saudi officials say is aimed at cultivating local goodwill while making Yemenis self-reliant in a moribund economy, even as activists question their effectiveness.
