2nd heritage festival kicks off in Yemen's Aden

Hundreds of Yemeni people thronged Thursday a public square to celebrate the 2nd heritage festival in the southern city of Aden.

The festival was held for the second year under the auspices of the Culture Ministry and other cultural organizations representing different provinces of the war-torn Arab country.

Sarah Rasheed, head of the media committee of the festival, told Xinhua that teams from different provinces, including those controlled by the Shiite Houthi group, participated in this year's festival.

"We try to keep our country unified in culture because politics has divided our regions and created hatred among the citizens. We want peace," Sarah said.

The teams representing several areas exhibited their traditional clothing and performed distinguished dances during the festival.

Aden, where Yemen's government in exile is temporarily based, has been suffering from lack of basic services, leading to public anger against the local authorities which have suspended most cultural activities since 2015.

The impoverished Arab country has been locked in a civil war since the Iranian-backed Shiite Houthi rebels overran much of the country militarily and seized all northern provinces, including capital Sanaa, in 2014.

Saudi Arabia leads an Arab coalition that has intervened militarily in the Yemeni war in March 2015 to help the government to defeat the Houthi rebels.

The military conflict between the Houthi rebels and the government forces backed by the Saudi-led coalition has aggravated the suffering of the citizens in Yemen, which is regarded as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.