ADEN, Yemen, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The Yemeni government announced Thursday the reopening of a key highway connecting the southern port city of Aden with the Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa after a seven-year closure caused by the ongoing internal conflict.
Ali Muqbil Saleh, governor of the government-controlled southern province of Dhalea, said on the social media platform X that the reopening is "an important step toward improving living and humanitarian conditions in the country," expressing hope that it would strengthen "communication and cooperation between different regions."
Another government official who asked to remain anonymous confirmed that senior officials from Yemen's Ministry of Defense supervised the reopening of the highway.
He said that, "for many families separated by years-long conflict lines, traders struggling to move goods, and patients seeking medical care across territorial boundaries, the road represents a lifeline that many feared might never reopen again."
"A number of tribal leaders and representatives of local humanitarian organizations conducted days of unusual coordination between the warring factions and finally succeeded in getting permissions to reopen the highway after dismantling scores of landmines and explosive devices planted previously in the area," added the official.
Travelers once faced arduous journeys of over 600 km through dangerous alternative routes to travel from Sanaa to Aden. The reopened highway reduces this distance to approximately 360 km, according to the official.
The Houthi group also announced the road's reopening through its Saba News Agency, describing it as an initiative "aimed at alleviating the suffering of citizens."
The conflict between the internationally recognized government and the Houthi group has cut off multiple main transit routes across the war-ravaged Arab nation since late 2014.
Yemen has been in a state of uneasy calm since Oct. 2, 2022, when the government and the Houthi group failed to renew and expand a UN-brokered truce.
Despite years of diplomatic efforts, neither side has shown a willingness to resume negotiations to end the conflict, which the UN estimates has killed hundreds of thousands of people and pushed millions to the brink of famine in Yemen. ■
