DUBAI: The Yemeni president has arrived for a visit in the United Arab Emirates, one of the key backers of a Saudi-led coalition attempting to roll back gains by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in the deeply impoverished country.

State news agency WAM says exiled President Abed Rabbou Mansour Hadi arrived Wednesday for a two-day working visit. Officials had no further details.

Hadi has been living in neighboring Saudi Arabia after he and much of his government fled advances by the Houthi rebels earlier this year.

The UAE has been participating in a Saudi-led, American-supported campaign targeting the rebels and their allies since March. It and Saudi Arabia have supplied pro-government forces with tanks and other fighting vehicles, and the UAE has lost soldiers as part of the campaign.

Meanwhile, military and security officials in Yemen said a suspected U.S. drone strike has killed five Al-Qaeda militants traveling in a vehicle near the extremist-held coastal city of Mukalla.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the attack Wednesday happened east of the city. Al-Qaeda’s Yemen branch, considered by Washington to be the most dangerous offshoot of the terror network, has made gains in the sprawling eastern Hadramawt province, capturing its capital Mukalla in April.

Also Wednesday, a U.S.-based charity that employs locals to clear up the filth said rubbish piling up on Yemen’s streets is helping the spread of dengue fever and malaria, as fighting, baking heat and a lack of food and water add to their hardships.

Rubbish lying in the streets has contaminated soil and water and attracted infectious pests, Mercy Corps said. Mosquitoes carrying dengue fever and malaria breed and lay eggs in puddles. At least 8,000 people in the port city of Aden have contracted dengue fever since the present crisis began five months ago, cases of typhoid have been recorded and there are reports of malaria. The charity pays local youths a daily wage to remove and dispose of the waste safely, giving them work and improving conditions for other city residents.

“People are glad to see their streets cleaner,” said Jonathan Bartolozzi, a Mercy Corps spokesman.

The country lacks basic supplies, and 80 percent of the population needs help to meet their basic needs – food, water, health care and shelter, according to the U.N. Development Program.

The price of water has doubled in the last month, forcing many families to spend one-third of their income on water, said Teresa Sancristoval, head of emergencies in Yemen for Medecins Sans Frontieres, adding that Sanaa is predicted to be the first capital in the world with no access to clean water.

Aden has seen heavy fighting and temperatures as high as 50 Celsius. Many health facilities have been closed, Bartolozzi said.