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Sana'a: The state of emergency imposed on the northern province of Sa'ada during the war with Al Houthi rebels has been lifted following orders from President Ali Abdullah Saleh, sources said yesterday.
Phone lines are back to normal, and the curfew at night is no longer applicable, sources from Sa'ada said.
The release of the war-related detainees was still unclear although some officials said the orders of President Saleh included the release of detainees.
"We welcome the orders to lift the state of emergency and release the detainees. And we hope that all detainees will be released; some of them have been in prison since 2004, and they had nothing to do with the war," said Ali Al Dailami, executive manager of the Yemeni Organisation for Defending Democratic Rights and Liberties
Earlier in the week, a number of human rights groups organised a march to the Prosecutor General office demanding the release of the detainees.
The prosecutor, the organisers said, sent a letter to the Political Security Organisation (intelligence agency) demanding either the release of the detainees (about 135) or their referral to court.
Meanwhile, the minister of the local administration and chairman of the committee of assessment of war damages, Abdul Qader Helal, said that about 70 per cent of the displaced people had returned to their homes and villages.
But during a meeting held in Sana'a with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) representative in Yemen he called for more assistance for victims of the war. The reconstruction process will take about two years, the official said.
Helal said that his committee would provide a comprehensive assessment supported with full documents and pictures to the UNDP and representatives of the donor countries in a meeting to be held at the beginning of October according to a proposal by the UNDP representative.
The meeting will be allocated to discuss support that can be provided by the UNDP and the donors for the reconstruction of Sa'ada.
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