SANA'A September 07. 2024 (Saba) - In denunciation of the continued collapse of the economic situation, high prices and lack of services, the occupied southern governorates are witnessing popular unrest and angry protests from time to time, the latest of which was a popular demonstration in Hadhramaut last Sunday in rejection of the worsening living conditions.
The participants in the demonstration from the sons of the Shihir area in Hadhramaut blocked the streets and the international road linking Al-Mukalla and the eastern regions, and stopped traffic until their demands were met, which included canceling the decision to prevent fishermen from fishing on the coasts of the governorate, which deprived them of their only source of income to provide a living for their families.
In the Ghayl Bawazir Directorate, angry student demonstrations erupted in denunciation of the collapse of living conditions, the deterioration of the currency exchange rate, the high prices and fuel and the lack of basic services, most notably electricity.
Instead of considering the legitimate demands of the demonstrators, the security forces launched a campaign of arrests and fired live ammunition at the protesters, which led to casualties among them, which is the same violent approach that the demonstrators in Aden were met with during the past weeks and months.
The fishermen denounced the local authority's disregard for their legitimate demands to allow them to practice fishing without any obstacles, stressing that they will continue to protest until the decisions of the UAE forces at Al-Rayyan Airport to prevent fishing on the coasts of the region are cancelled.
The fishermen's protests come after they organized a stand in front of Al-Rayyan Airport in mid-August, demanding that they be allowed to fish, and to compensate for the losses they incurred as a result of being deprived of fishing by the UAE occupation forces.
These protests coincide with the emergence of the crisis of the sudden rise in fish prices in the occupied governorates, which has increased the suffering of citizens burdened by the repercussions of the ongoing conflict between the partners of corruption, threatening what remains of their food sources.
Reports indicate that the price of one kilogram of tuna fish, which is a main meal for millions of citizens with limited income, exceeded 18 thousand riyals, which was met with widespread popular discontent, prompting citizens to crowd into shops selling frozen fish and cheap types.
According to specialists, the rise in fish prices in these governorates is due to the export of the largest part of fish production to Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, in addition to the control of Saudi and Emirati companies over 80 percent of fishing activity in Yemeni waters.
The rise in fish prices comes amid the worsening suffering of citizens due to the continued deterioration of services, most notably electricity and water, and the collapse of the value of the riyal against other currencies, reaching 1900 riyals per dollar, which caused a significant increase in the prices of goods and services by 300 percent, making more than half of the population of these governorates unable to meet their basic food needs.
Hadhramaut and Aden, like other occupied governorates, are witnessing widespread popular resentment as a result of the continued collapse of the currency and its direct repercussions on high prices and lack of services, which has exacerbated the suffering of the population.
In contrast, the countries of the aggression coalition are content to express concern and demand that the helpless government in Aden take real steps to achieve economic stability, but the latter, it seems, has begun to use the deteriorating economic situation as a means to obtain the support and large financial grants provided to it annually by the countries of aggression and other countries.
Despite all the support that the government loyal to the aggression has received over the past years, the economic and living conditions in the governorates under its control are getting worse day after day, and poverty rates are rising among citizens, warning of an imminent famine.
In light of this, many observers warn of the continued deterioration of these conditions in light of the growing anger among the street, which has not seen any improvement in its living conditions, as much as it sees the conditions getting worse with the passage of time, at all security, living and service levels in general.
In the absence of any horizon to resolve these rampant economic and service crises, observers expect that the situation will deteriorate and lead to dire consequences, warning at the same time that the parties involved in the so-called government will continue to exploit these crises to achieve gains without providing anything to the oppressed citizen. Their partners in the countries of the aggression coalition played a role in bringing the situation to its current state of deterioration and out of control.
Academics and economic experts consider the continued economic collapse in Aden and other southern governorates to be a natural result of the rampant corruption in institutions and the control of each faction over part of the revenue-generating institutions.
Observers believe that the frightening deterioration of living and service conditions is primarily due to the corruption practiced by the partners in power there, starting with the aggression coalition and the so-called Presidential Council, the government and the Transitional Council, who are all participating in the war on services, the price of which is paid and the citizen suffers from its fire.
It is also the result of widespread imbalances in public finances in Aden, and its disbursement of salaries to its senior employees in hard currency, which has fueled the conflict and exchanged accusations between it and the Transitional Council and other corruption partners.
The Transitional Council accuses this government of looting aid and financial grants and establishing private investment companies outside Yemen, in addition to currency speculation, while it accuses it of obstructing its work by seizing a large amount of revenues and not transferring them to the Central Bank, as well as the continued influence of its militias since its coup against it in August 2019, with direct funding and military support from the UAE.
In the past two days, a UN report revealed the expansion of the circle of famine and the rise in "malnutrition" rates in about 117 directorates under the control of the so-called Aden government loyal to the aggression coalition.
The report, which highlighted the extent of the famine in areas controlled by the Aden government, spoke of 600,000 children suffering from malnutrition in those areas, including 120,000 in critical condition.
Despite the humanitarian and living suffering caused by the US-Saudi-Emirati aggression since 2015 for the Yemeni people in general, the areas under the control of the government loyal to the aggression witnessed a major collapse in the economic and living conditions, high prices and oil derivatives, and the absence of services as a result of corruption, looting, and tampering with the country's capabilities and currency, which the governments of followers in Aden have been practicing for the past eight years.
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