Abu Dhabi’s Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation for Humanitarian Works signed a $100mn deal this week with Yemen’s Ministry of Electricity to build a 120MW power plant in the war-torn country’s second city Aden. Authorities are playing up the project’s humanitarian auspices, saying the project will supply 2.5 million Yemeni families with electricity. Whether building such a project in even the relatively safe (and UAE-affiliate-controlled) city of Aden is viable is another question entirely.

Yemen’s ongoing conflict is showing little sign of abating (particularly given recent attacks launched against Saudi Arabia by its Houthi opponents – MEES, 14 June), but nonetheless the country’s oil sector is seeing IOCs slowly creep back (MEES, 17 May). (CONTINUED - 117 WORDS)