NYN | News 

The United Arab Emirates continues its tireless efforts to fully control Socotra Island, with one of its latest steps being the imposition of dominance over the island’s airport, with the approval of the internationally recognized Yemeni government.

On Thursday, Socotra airport employees staged a protest in front of the airport, rejecting the transfer of the airport to a company affiliated with the UAE, which has controlled the island for years and is seeking to privatize the airport.

The employees raised slogans and banners condemning the privatization of the airport, expressing their opposition to handing it over to the UAE’s “Eastern Triangle” company, considering it a sovereign facility that belongs to the state and the Yemeni government.

The protesters expressed their outrage over the decision to entrust the so-called “Eastern Triangle Company” with airport affairs and its authority to replace the airport employees with a new crew loyal to the company.

During the protest, the demonstrators issued a statement expressing their rejection and condemnation of the decision to establish the Socotra Aviation Services Center under the umbrella of the “Eastern Triangle Holding Company” inside the airport, without a clear explanation or agreement according to the regulations and rules of the General Authority of Civil Aviation, which should guarantee the rights of employees and the sovereignty of the airport.

Documents revealed that a UAE holding company called “Eastern Triangle” had taken over the management of the Socotra Archipelago’s ports, including the island’s airport, following instructions from Minister of Transport, Abdulsalam Hamid, in the Aden government, and Governor Raafat Al-Thaqali, both affiliated with the Southern Transitional Council.

One of the memorandums included a request from Governor Al-Thaqali to the Minister of Transport to approve the establishment of the Socotra Aviation Services Center under the umbrella of the “Eastern Triangle Holding Company,” which, two months later, led the President of the General Authority for Civil Aviation and Meteorology in Yemen, Captain Saleh Bin Naheed, to approve it.