Donors pledge 66 million U.S. dollars aid for Yemen's reconstruction

Sanaa, June 28 (Xinhua-ANI): Representatives of Yemen's donor countries pledged on Thursday an initial aid of 66 million U.S. dollars for reconstructing southern Yemeni cities which were destroyed during the months-long fighting against al-Qaida militants, official Saba news agency reported.

The aid was announced at a donor meeting in Sanaa and aimed to help thousands of displaced people in Yemen's southern province of Abyan who fled to refuge camps in neighboring provinces due to the anti-terror war.

The donors voiced their support to Yemen's political transition as well as their concerns over the insurgency in the country's southern regions, where the al-Qaida wing took advantage of the one-year unrest to control several cities.

Yemen witnessed more than one year protests that forced former President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down and transfer power to his deputy Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

Combating al-Qaida militants in the south is one of the challenges confronting Yemeni interim President Hadi, who has promised to launch a national dialogue to settle disputes among all political factions and uproot the Yemeni branch of al-Qaida. (Xinhua-ANI)