by Murad Abdo
ADEN, Yemen, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Senior officials of Yemen's internationally-backed government launched on Wednesday a month-long campaign to clean up all the neighborhoods of the southern port city of Aden.
The campaign was initiated by the local government authorities in partnership with the Emirates Red Crescent (ERC) and other organizations operating in the city.
It's expected to last one month in a bid to step up the cleanliness and hygiene efforts of the local government in Aden city, the country's temporary capital.
Hundreds of young volunteers and citizens joined the clean-up campaign that began in a number of areas in Aden, under the slogan "for Aden's sake...all of us will work as street sweepers."
Yemen's deputy Prime Minister Salem al-Khanbashi along with Aden's governor and ERC representatives participated with the local volunteers in cleaning the main streets in Aden's neighborhood of Crater.
"This is an important event that will play a great role in beautifying our beloved city of Aden and raising the environmental awareness among the citizens," said Ahmed Salim Rubea, the governor of Aden.
"It's our responsibility to keep our city clean. We called upon all the people in Aden, including the students, to participate in the cleaning up campaign," the governor added.
Majed Aqlan, a volunteer from Aden's University, told Xinhua that many of his colleagues enthusiastically participated in the campaign and helped in educating people about hygienic practices.
"We established a number of teams that will move across the city to meet the citizens and deliver brochures containing instructions to keep their surroundings clean," Aqlan said.
A government official told Xinhua by phone saying that the Saudi-led Arab coalition will exert larger efforts in rebuilding and beautifying Aden's infrastructure affected by the internal military conflict.
"Our partners of the Saudi-led coalition will not leave Aden alone but they will financially support all the projects aimed at rebuilding the destroyed infrastructure during the next few months," the source said anonymously.
Jamal Khadabish, head of Health Department in Aden, said that removing waste places not only help in beautifying the city but in confronting the spread of disease and epidemics.
He said that collecting garbage from the streets and moving it to safe disposal play a great role in fighting diseases such as dengue fever and cholera epidemic.
The southern port city of Aden, where Yemen's government is temporarily based since 2015, has been suffering from frequent power outages and lack of basic services including water, leading to public anger against the local authorities.
The impoverished Arab country has been locked into a civil war since the Shiite Houthi rebels overran much of the country militarily and seized all northern provinces, including the capital Sanaa, in late 2014.
Saudi Arabia has been leading an Arab military coalition since March 2015 to support the government of Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after the Houthis forced him into exile.
The war has killed more than 10,000 Yemenis, half of whom are civilians, and displaced over 3 million others, according to United Nations humanitarian agencies.
