Yemen's PM, exiled government return to Aden, says spokesman

Yemen’s Prime Minister Khaled Bahah and seven government ministers reportedly arrived in Aden on Wednesday in a bid to restore the country’s government after months in exile.

Pro-government forces backed by the Saudi-led coalition retook the southern port city in July at which point several other Yemeni ministers returned.

The return of Bahah on Wednesday “marks the start of the government’s exercise of its tasks to run the country’s affairs and restore legitimacy,” a security official told German press agency DPA.

Conditions in Aden are reportedly unstable with reports of al-Qaeda militants entering the city and a slow restoration of basic services since the coalition recaptured the city.

"The decision of the government to return to Aden has to be taken immediately before the collapse of the security situation and services," Lutfi Shatara, the leader of Herak, a local political coalition, told Deutsche Welle.

During a news conference held at an Aden hotel on Wednesday, government spokesman Rajeh Badi reportedly said that "the security file, reconstruction and incorporating the southern resistance into the army" were at the top of the government's agenda, according to the local Aden al-Ghad news website.

On Sunday, the Saudi-led coalition and pro-government forces launched an offensive in Marib province, a Houthi stronghold east of Sanaa, with the aim of retaking the capital.

The offensive began on the same day the exiled government backed out of UN-brokered peace talks, two days after it said it would join the talks to be held in Oman.