Yemen police kill one in Aden protests over power cuts

Aden: Police have opened fire to disperse dozens of Aden residents protesting power cuts in Yemen's second city, killing one, a local government official said on Sunday.

"A resident was killed and others were wounded" by police gunfire during the late Saturday protests, said the official who requested anonymity.

Dozens of people took to the streets in Aden's districts of Crater, Mualla, and Mansura to protest against the lack of power supply as temperatures soared to almost 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in the coastal city.

Residents blocked roads, erected barricades and set tyres ablaze, prompting police intervention, witnesses said.

Most of the city's electricity stallations were destroyed during fighting between pro-government forces and Iran-backed rebels last year.

The rebels who seized Sanaa in September 2014, expanded south and entered Aden in March last year, but loyalists backed by a Saudi-led coalition pushed them out in July.

President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's government has so far failed to restore security and power supply in the city that it declared a temporary capital.

"Our life is a real disaster," said 20-year-old Aden resident Mohammed Abdulhakim. "We are unable to sleep" because of the heat.

"The war has destroyed everything and the aid arriving in Aden is not enough to restore power," he complained.

The United Arab Emirates, which plays a key role in the pro-government coalition, has sent generators to Aden in recent months to help restore power supply in the city.

But governor of the nearby Abyan province, Elkhedr al-Saidi, said earlier this month that "weak generating capability" in Aden's power plants is affecting supplies in the southern provinces of Abyan, Daleh and Lahj.

Yemen's Prime Minister Ahmed bin Dagher on Wednesday accused the Huthi rebels and their allies of bringing the country's economy to the brink of collapse.

Fighting has killed more than 6,400 people, displaced about 2.8 million and left 82 percent of Yemen's population in need of aid, the United Nations says.