UAE-backed forces confiscate fishermen’s boats, prevent them from fishing

SHABWA, Oct. 07 (YPA) – Dozens of fishermen organized a mass protest on Tuesday against the violations of the UAE forces in the coastal Radhum district on the Arabian Sea in Shabwa Governorate, southeast Yemen.

During the protest, which was organized in front of the Balhaf gas facility, which the UAE has converted into a military base since 2016, the fishermen demanded the return of their boats confiscated by the UAE forces at the facility.

They explained that the UAE forces confiscated the fishermen’s boats in Radhum and prevented them from going out to sea and banned fishing on security pretexts, cutting off their only source of livelihood and exacerbating their deteriorating economic conditions.

The fishermen indicated that preventing them from practicing their maritime activities poses a direct threat to their livelihoods, especially in light of the harsh living conditions in Shabwa.

Participants in the protest expressed their deep dissatisfaction with the continued detention of their fishing boats amid the silence of the local authorities and tribal sheikhs in the region.

They also pointed out that the UAE’s actions against fishermen in Shabwa directly contribute to fueling popular unrest in the region.

This comes in the same vein as the UAE forces closing the sea to fishermen in Al-Rayyan in Mukalla and Shihr in Hadramout Governorate for the eighth consecutive year without responding to their demands following the conversion of Al-Rayyan Airport into a joint military base with the UAE forces in 2016.