South people are between hammer of heat and madness of prices!
ADEN, May 02 (YPA) – Aden and the rest of the southern provinces under the Saudi-led coalition’s control are experiencing a stifling electricity crisis amid rising summer temperatures.
This crisis has exacerbated citizens’ suffering and sparked angry popular protests since the beginning of this week.
Electricity alone was not the only factor that drove citizens in Aden, Lahj, and Abyan provinces to protest; rather, they were further driven by the repercussions of the economic collapse and the deterioration of the Yemeni riyal value against foreign currencies, with the exchange rate approaching 2,600 Yemeni riyals to the US dollar.
The promises of the coalition-aligned prime minister, Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, since the ouster of his predecessor, Maeen Abdulmalik, in early February 2024, to improve the electricity and economic situation have been unheeded.
Meanwhile, the actual consumption of diesel and fuel oil by power plants from the Saudi grant was estimated at $40 million per month. The pro-coalition government has not achieved any positive results since announcing the cancellation of four contracts for private sector power plants in mid-February, which cost the government $2 million per day in exchange for subsidizing official power plants.
This has not been reflected in any of these developments. Rather, generating capacity has fallen to such low levels that outages exceed 20 hours per day, amid the government’s inability to purchase fuel for diesel-powered plants. Even more ironic is the fact that the Safer oil facility has stopped supplying the PetroMasila plant with four tankers of crude oil daily.
The electricity crisis in Aden and the rest of the southern provinces is a scenario that recurs every year, representing a natural reflection of the ongoing economic collapse.
The Yemeni riyal has depreciated against the US dollar since bin Mubarak assumed the premiership, leaving him unable to take any measures to mitigate the collapse other than placing his hand on his cheek. He often reverts to his favorite gesture of folding his arms in front of electricity officials in Aden, appearing to be a good listener to the problem.
Citizens in Aden and the rest of the southern regions find themselves caught in the crossfire of crises that burden their daily lives, with the soaring summer heat on the one hand and the skyrocketing prices of basic foodstuffs on the other, due to the catastrophic collapse of the local currency. They find no way to express their suffering and anger other than blocking main roads with stones and burning worn tires.
Despite the repeated chants by the people of Aden and the rest of the southern provinces demanding the coalition’s departure, fuel is quickly provided to power plants. This clearly demonstrates, leaving no room for doubt, that starvation and the deterioration of various services are a systematic policy to which members of the “Leadership Council” and the government stand by, ignoring the slightest responsibility.
This is in accordance with the agendas of what is called “political deception,” as the Southern Transitional Council leaders see it, who quickly emerge during every crisis to blame their partners in government, as if the matter does not concern them.
At the present time, the ball is still and will remain in the court of the popular demands of the people of the South, after 10 years of deteriorating service, economic and security conditions, to limit the recurrence of the suffering that is crushing their living reality.
This comes amid a deepening crisis of confidence in the coalition countries—Saudi Arabia and the UAE—which appear to have abandoned their support for the government’s service delivery, instead shifting their focus to controlling the eastern governorates, rich in natural resources. These governorates have recently been transformed into an arena of conflict between their local actors, without prioritizing citizen service. They have continued to promote false illusions in the south since the beginning of 2016.
YPA