UAE, Eritrea behind piracy acts, Yemeni fishermen disappearance: Minister

SANAA, Dec. 3 (YPA) – Minister of Fisheries in the Salvation Government Mohammed al-Zubairi on Tuesday said that the UAE and Eritrea are behind the acts of piracy in the Red Sea against Yemeni ships and the disappearance of Yemeni fishermen.

“Eritrea’s authorities by the arbitrary arrest of the Yemeni fishermen violated the joint fishing agreement signed between the two countries,” said al-Zubairi in a statement to Al-Masirah satellite channel.

This came during the release of 78 fishermen from Eritrean prisons, who had been arrested by a UAE ship, according to al-Zubairi.

The minister explained that a UAE ship named Abu Dhabi with Eritrean and Sudanese soldiers aboard is chasing Yemeni fishermen and taking them with their boats to Eritrea’s port city of Assab, where the UAE has a military base there.

He confirmed that a committee was formed from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Fisheries and Coast Guard to follow up the file of Yemeni fishermen detained in Saudi Arabia and Eritrea.

The Minister appealed to the United Nations and international organizations concerned with human rights to press for releasing the detained Yemeni fishermen and preventing maritime piracy operations against them by the UAE and the authorities of Eritrea, which has security relations with the aggression coalition countries.

YPA