Alimi Inaugurates Development Projects in Yemen's Al-Mahra Governorate

Al-Alimi inaugurated development and service projects in Al-Mahra Governorate. (Saba)
Al-Alimi inaugurated development and service projects in Al-Mahra Governorate. (Saba)
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Alimi Inaugurates Development Projects in Yemen's Al-Mahra Governorate

Al-Alimi inaugurated development and service projects in Al-Mahra Governorate. (Saba)
Al-Alimi inaugurated development and service projects in Al-Mahra Governorate. (Saba)

Dr. Rashad Mohammad Al-Alimi, Chairman of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, laid the foundation stone for the Al-Ghaydah power station, during a ceremony on Monday.

The event was attended by the governor of Al-Mahra Governorate, Mohammad Ali Yasser, the secretary-general of the local council, Salem Nimer, and a number of local officials.

The strategic project aims to address the electricity and energy crisis in the city of Al-Ghaydah and its vicinities, alleviate the suffering of citizens, and stimulate commercial and service activity in Al-Mahra Governorate.

Al-Alimi was accompanied by the Director of the Office of the President of the Presidential Leadership Council, Major General Saleh Al-Maqaleh, and the Minister of Education, Tariq Al-Akbari, and Minister of Public Works and Roads, Eng. Salem Al-Aboudi.

Also on Monday, Al-Alimi inaugurated the first phase of the tourist and residential city of Marina.

The city stretches over an area of one million square meters, and includes residential, tourism and recreational facilities, at a total cost of $100 million.

The project, which will be completed in 2028, will encompass over 100 residential units and more than 70 chalets distributed along charming sea resorts. It will also consist of a hotel, a water park, an entertainment city, educational and health service facilities, a gas station, a commercial market, a kindergarten, and a security center.

Marina will represent one of the largest tourism investments in Yemen, featuring an integrated entertainment complex that will be able to host artistic performances and local, regional and international events.

During his first visit to the governorate since assuming the presidency of the Leadership Council in April 2022, Al-Alimi, inaugurated a package of development and service projects in Al-Mahra, at a total cost of 93.3 billion riyals. Those cover the rehabilitation of roads, public works, electricity and energy, water, youth and sports.

The projects also include the expansion and rehabilitation of the southern entrance to the city of Al-Ghaydah, the project of lighting the streets in the same city, the entrances to the districts and the four tunnels in Fartak Mountains on the path of the international coastal road, in addition to the rehabilitation of the Sarfeet-Hof road at a length of 10 km, and the internal water network in the Sayhut district.



Sudan Army Says Recaptures Key State Capital

Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
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Sudan Army Says Recaptures Key State Capital

Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP

The Sudanese army said Saturday it had retaken a key state capital south of Khartoum from rival Rapid Support Forces who had held it for the past five months.

The Sennar state capital of Sinja is a strategic prize in the 19-month-old war between the regular army and the RSF as it lies on a key road linking army-controlled areas of eastern and central Sudan.

It posted footage on social media that it said had been filmed inside the main base in the city.

"Sinja has returned to the embrace of the nation," the information minister of the army-backed government, Khaled al-Aiser, said in a statement.

Aiser's office said armed forces chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had travelled to the city of Sennar, 60 kilometres (40 miles) to the north, on Saturday to "inspect the operation and celebrate the liberation of Sinja", AFP reported.

The RSF had taken the two cities in a lightning offensive in June that saw nearly 726,000 civilians flee, according to UN figures.

Human rights groups have said that those who were unwilling or unable to leave have faced months of arbitrary violence by RSF fighters.

Sinja teacher Abdullah al-Hassan spoke of his "indescribable joy" at seeing the army enter the city after "months of terror".

"At any moment, you were waiting for militia fighters to barge in and beat you or loot you," the 53-year-old told AFP by telephone.

Both sides in the Sudanese conflict have been accused of war crimes, including indiscriminately shelling homes, markets and hospitals.

The RSF has also been accused of summary executions, systematic sexual violence and rampant looting.

The RSF control nearly all of the vast western region of Darfur as well as large swathes of Kordofan in the south. They also hold much of the capital Khartoum and the key farming state of Al-Jazira to its south.

Since April 2023, the war has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted more than 11 million -- creating what the UN says is the world's largest displacement crisis.

From the eastern state of Gedaref -- where more than 1.1 million displaced people have sought refuge -- Asia Khedr, 46, said she hoped her family's ordeal might soon be at an end.

"We'll finally go home and say goodbye to this life of displacement and suffering," she told AFP.