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 Government spokesman Rajeh Badi said Bahah, who is also vice
president, was accompanied by seven ministers when he arrived in
Aden, which loyalist fighters backed by Saudi-led troops recaptured
from Houthi forces in July.
"Khaled Bahah and the ministers who arrived with him are in Aden to
stay permanently," Badi said.
Bahah's return from Saudi Arabia follows that of several other
Yemeni ministers who relocated to Aden from the kingdom in the weeks
after the city was retaken in July. Bahah made a brief visit to Aden
on Aug. 1.
President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi fled Aden for the Saudi capital
Riyadh in March as Houthi forces closed in. Since its recapture,
loyalist forces supported by Saudi-led coalition air strikes have
pushed northwards and driven back the Iranian-allied Houthis.
Gulf Arab ground forces and loyalists have now launched an offensive
in Marib province east of Sanaa seeking to drive the Houthis out of
the capital, which the movement seized in September 2014.
The exiled government pulled out of U.N.-sponsored peace talks at
the weekend but Badi said on Tuesday it was ready to join them if
its Houthi foes publicly accepted a U.N. resolution calling on them
to recognize Hadi as president and quit Yemen's main cities.
Speaking at a news conference at Aden's al-Qasr hotel on Wednesday,
Badi said that "the security file, reconstruction and incorporating
the southern resistance into the army" were at the top of the
government's agenda, according to the local Aden al-Ghad news
website
The city of one million had been gripped by chaos and lawlessness
since the Houthis retreated.
Local officials say some 300 local police officers have returned to
work since July and some police stations have resumed operations
with the help of advisors from the United Arab Emirates.
But residents complain that local authorities have been slow in
seeking to restore basic services and clean up debris and garbage
that had accumulated on the streets after heavy fighting.
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Residents also say that fighters from out of town, including some
affiliated to al Qaeda, had been seen on the streets of the city,
raising fears it is being taking over by Islamist militants.
Last month, the city was rocked by a number of incidents, including
an explosion next to the governor's office. A Christian cemetery
dating from British rule of Aden that ended nearly 50 years ago was
also vandalized.
In the latest attack, assailants set fire to the Church of Saint
Joseph, a local official said. The contents of the church were
completely burned.
"The decision of the government to return to Aden has to be taken
immediately before the collapse of the security situation and
services," said Lutfi Shatara, a leader of Herak -- a local
political coalition seeking to restore the former South Yemen, which
merged with the northern part of the country in 1990.
The conflict has killed more than 4,500 people over nearly six
months.
(Additional reporting by Marwa Al-Malik, Writing by Sami Aboudi,
Editing by Angus MacSwan)
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