US Diplomat: We Are Ready to Visit Aden After the Return of the Government

The Chargé d'Affairs of the US Embassy in Yemen, Cathy Westley, announced her readiness to visit the capital, Aden, in South Yemen, if the Yemeni government returns there, according to statements reported by the Yemeni government's affiliated news agency, Saba.

Westley had met Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, on Monday, at his residence in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.

Westley said: "We are ready to visit Aden after the return of the government and the completion of the implementation of the Riyadh Agreement," according to what was reported by the Yemeni agency.

In contrast, President Hadi stressed the importance of the US role in "supporting the government's efforts and completing the implementation of the provisions of the Riyadh Agreement by urging the implementation of the security and military aspect and unifying and equipping a joint operations room."

Hadi reiterated "his keenness to achieve the prospects of peace that our Yemeni people aspire to, after a long suffering from a coup war by the Iranian Houthi militia based on the consensus of the Yemeni people," Saba said.

The Yemeni government had signed the Riyadh Agreement with the STC on November 5, 2019. After months of fighting between the two parties fighting against the Iranian-backed Houthis, the formation of the parity government was announced between North and South on December 18, 2020.

The government left Aden last March, three months after its arrival, amid accusations of failing to respond to popular demands to improve services and limit the collapse of the economy and currency.