UAE loots large quantities of rare trees, plants in Socotra

SOCOTRA, Jan. 20 (YPA) – The UAE has uprooted large quantities of trees and rare plants on the Yemeni island of Socotra and transported them via ship to its territories.

Activists from Socotra reported that an Emirati ship left the port of Hulaf last week carrying a large quantity of rare trees and plants that were uprooted and transported from their original habitat on the island.

They stressed that the continued process of plant bulldozing by the UAE threatens the extinction of the rare plant diversity of the natural reserve, accusing the UAE of adopting a destructive policy in collusion with the governor of Socotra, Raafat Al-Thaqali, whom the UAE imposed on the “Presidential Leadership Council” loyal to the Saudi-led coalition.

The activist explained that the destruction of the plant environment in Socotra is being carried out amid silence by the pro-coalition government and members of the Leadership Council, who claim their legitimacy over those areas.

The Yemeni Socotra Archipelago was declared in 2003 as a vital natural reserve, and in 2008 it was classified as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

The UAE moved to control Socotra after the outbreak of war on Yemen in mid-2015, under the so-called provision of humanitarian aid to the people of the island after it was exposed to Hurricane Chapala at the end of 2015.

In 2018, the UAE began transferring weapons and building a joint military base with the Zionist entity, in addition to a number of maritime observation centers in Abd al-Kuri Island and others, after its normalization with the Zionist entity in the second half of the year 2020.

YPA