The Nobel Peace Prize winner and human rights advocate Tawakkol Karman has again called President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi to put an end to the UAE’s military presence in Yemen after the latter has deviated from the declared aim of Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen. 

In a statement on social media, Karman stated that the forces of the United Arab Emirates in Yemen have been off track and began acting as an occupying power.

Different media sources have repeatedly reported that the UAE banned President Hadi from entering the port city of Aden. 

According to these sources, Hadi’s flight from Riyadh to Aden had been cancelled late August after arriving at Riyadh’s King Khalid bin Abdulaziz airport.

The Yemeni President did not board his flight because of “specific instructions from the UAE government banning from entering his home-city Aden," the sources stated. 

In general, Yemenis today believe that the UAE forces, which operate as part of the Arab coalition, are pursuing a different agenda to seize strategic regions and ports in Yemen. 

The United Arab Emirates is part of an Arab coalition assembled by Saudi Arabia with the aim of helping Yemeni government soldiers battle the Iran-backed Houthi militia and and their allies in Yemen after they led a coup against the internationally-recognized authority represented by Hadi. 

The Saudi-led coalition began its war in Yemen in March 2015 against the Iran-allied Houthis who hold the capital, Sanaa.

In recent report, Human Rights Watch has mentioned that The UAE supports Yemeni forces that have arbitrarily detained, forcibly disappeared, tortured, and abused dozens of people during security operations. 

HRW also pointed out that the UAE runs at least two informal detention facilities, and its officials appear to have ordered the continued detention of people despite release orders, and forcibly disappeared people.