Saudis dish out millions in Yemen aid amid global criticism

Midi, Yemen: Standing amid the bullet-pocked ruins of a once rebel-controlled Yemeni district, Saudi officials unveil their latest multi-million dollar aid projects, seeking to blunt global criticism over a worsening humanitarian crisis.
While leading a military coalition since 2015 against Iran-aligned Huthi rebels, Saudi Arabia is also ramping up aid projects across its southern neighbour — from schools to greenhouses and desalination plants — amid international pressure to end the conflict.
The coalition’s bombing campaign is blamed widely for pushing Yemen into what the UN calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with thousands of Yemenis killed and millions struggling to feed themselves.
But pursuing development projects in tandem with war is a strategy that Saudi officials say is aimed at cultivating local goodwill while making Yemenis self-reliant in a moribund economy, even as activists question their effectiveness.
Last month, officials from the Saudi Development and Reconstruction Program for Yemen (SDRPY) — established in May 2018 to lead this strategy — drove across the southern Jizan border into the coastal Yemeni district of Midi to launch projects they said were worth around $7 million.
Escorted by soldiers who repeatedly warned against walking astray in an area riddled with mines, the officials held a groundbreaking ceremony for 11 projects including a new school, health centre and a desalination plant to tackle rampant waterborne diseases.