Socotra residents demand end to UAE monopoly, open fuel market

SOCOTRA, July 10 (YPA) – Residents of the Yemeni province of Socotra Island, under the control of UAE forces, have called for an end to the monopoly practiced by foreign companies, which has strangled the lives of the archipelago’s residents.

Local activists asserted that UAE companies, which control services and living conditions in Socotra, have left Socotra citizens at their mercy in every aspect. They called on the Saudi-led coalition-affiliated government and the “Leadership Council” to rescue the people from the monopoly of “ADNOC” and “the Eastern Triangle” companies, which are run by UAE intelligence officers.

The residents also called for the resumption of operations of the Yemeni Petroleum Company branch on the island and the opening of other fuel stations to break the current monopoly.

This comes amid accusations that Emirati companies are pursuing a policy of “systematic starvation and warfare” aimed at displacing residents from the archipelago, which has allegedly been transformed into a base and maritime and air surveillance center for foreign entities since 2020.

Separately, the Southern Revolutionary Movement Council organized a mass demonstration yesterday, Wednesday, in the city of Hadibu, the capital of Socotra, in solidarity with detainees and those forcibly disappeared in the prisons of the UAE-backed factions in Aden. Among those detained was the council’s chairman, Sheikh Abdul-Wali al-Subaihi, who has been forcibly disappeared since the end of last year.

YPA