The Emirates Red Crescent, ERC, has launched an cleanliness campaign in the city of Ataq in Shabwa Governorate, as part of a series of humanitarian development services projects in the various districts of Shabwa and other liberated Yemeni governorates.

The five-day campaign, which was welcomed by the city’s residents, involved cleaning residential and commercial streets and neighbourhoods in the city, as well as removing and transporting waste.

Mohammed Saif Al Muhairi, Head of the ERC Team in Shabwa, explained that the ERC’s cleanliness and waste removal campaign in Ataq is not its first initiative in the area, adding that the ERC has prioritised its services and development projects, most notably in the cleanliness sector, and had previously supported and adopted similar cleanliness campaigns in the cities of Azzan and Habban in the districts of Habban and Mayfa'a.

Cleanliness is not the sole responsibility of a specialist authority, but is a joint responsibility between the authority and the community, as citizens are the most affected by increased amounts of waste in their neighbourhoods and streets, he continued.

Al Muhairi highlighted the role of general cleanliness in presenting the aesthetic aspects of Ataq, the administrative capital of Shabwa, as the cleanliness of its streets and cities is the major foundation of combatting epidemics and diseases that spread through rubbish being piled up for long periods in neighbourhoods and streets.

He also called on prominent personalities and the cultural elite in Ataq to urge the people of residential neighbourhoods and the owners and employees of commercial shops to dispose of their waste in designated areas, which will help cleaners to do their work.

Al Muhairi said that he expects tonnes of waste to be removed from the streets and residential neighbourhoods of the city and trade markets, during the campaign’s four to five day period.

During the launch of the campaign, Abdrabbuh Hashla Nasser, Secretary-General of the Local Council of the Governorate of Shabwa, emphasised the importance of the campaign, which is being implemented by the workers of the Cleanliness and Improvement Fund, through funding provided by the ERC and the supervision of its field team, which reflects their desire to make the campaign succeed.

Hashla valued the generous support offered by the UAE and its humanitarian arm in Yemen, the ERC, which includes various humanitarian, services and development initiatives, especially in the sector of cleanliness and improvement, while considering the ERC’s support and funding for the cleanliness campaigns in Ataq as significant progress.

Hashla also praised the UAE and the ERC for providing relief and humanitarian aid and supporting local services sectors, such as electricity, water, health, education, cleanliness and other vital sectors.