Aden transforms into “open-air prison” under coalition’s collective punishment policies
ADEN, May 28 (YPA) – The city of Aden and other areas in southern and eastern Yemen have turned into an open-air prison, governed with a mindset of collective punishment by the Saudi-Emirati-led coalition and its affiliated government. After nearly a decade of military control, these regions have become disaster zones in every sense of the word.
Living conditions and public services in Aden have deteriorated sharply, with ongoing electricity and water shortages and a failing healthcare system. Neither the Saudi-Emirati coalition nor their government, whose officials frequently move between Gulf and European capitals, have taken effective measures to address the crisis.
Local health sources reported alarming spikes in acute watery diarrhea and fever cases, linked to sewage overflows, environmental contamination, and polluted drinking water. Meanwhile, pro-coalition health authorities continue to suppress official data, leaving the true death toll, especially among children and the elderly, unreported.
Moreover, local sources reported a widespread outbreak of severe malnutrition among children since early 2025, driven by skyrocketing food prices amid an unprecedented collapse of the local currency.
The price of a single “roti” bread has soared to nearly 130 Yemeni riyals, while the pro-coalition government remains unable to halt the ongoing currency devaluation.
Simultaneously, it struggles to pay public employees’ salaries after printing nearly 6 trillion Yemeni riyals without backing between 2016 and 2021.
The people of Aden and other provinces can no longer wait for the pro-coalition government’s promises, as it has failed to take any real action to stop the ongoing living and service crisis.
The government’s approach has been to periodically placate the southern public with empty promises. Their suffering has now reached unbearable levels, especially as nearly daily protests and demonstrations fill the streets of Aden, demanding electricity, water, and improvements to basic services—demands that officials have largely ignored.
Despite the economic and service sector collapse and related humanitarian disasters, the pro-coalition government has offered no concrete solutions. No efforts have been made to stop the Yemeni riyal’s decline against foreign currencies or to resolve the fuel shortage affecting power stations, including those in Aden and other major cities.
Since early 2016, this government has compiled a consistent record of systemic failures and broken commitments to the population of southern and eastern Yemen.
Meanwhile, several political observers are questioning the legitimacy of the coalition-backed government’s continued rule, as well as the so-called “Leadership Council” residing outside Yemen that claims to manage these regions.
They criticized these authorities for ignoring the dire conditions faced by citizens, who endure starvation, illness, and power outages lasting over 20 hours daily in Aden and other southern provinces.
They emphasized that the only way to end the tragic conditions in Aden and other areas is through a popular uprising that uproots all parties involved in the pro-coalition government.
“This can be achieved by establishing an independent popular front, free from corrupt forces that have been plundering the country’s resources for over 30 years—including the extensive looting since 2016— without any tangible development or progress in resolving the southern issue,” they said.
They stressed that “achieving this goal requires sacrifices to put an end to years of oppression and hardship, before the hands of the wicked can assassinate the future and aspirations of generations to come.”
@E.Y.M