Five cities in Yemen
Summary: with the now nearly eleven year-old civil war remaining in stasis our contributor examines what daily life is like for ordinary Yemenis in five major cities.
We thank Helen Lackner for today’s article. An expert on Yemen, Helen also works as a freelance rural development consultant with a particular interest in water, among other environmental issues. SAQI Books has published the paperback edition with new material of her Yemen In Crisis, now subtitled Devastating Conflict, Fragile Hope. It is a seminal study of the war, what lies behind it and what needs to happen for it to finally end. Her latest book Yemen: Poverty and Conflict was published by Routledge in 2022. You can find Helen’s most recent Arab Digest podcast A black eye in Yemen for the UAE here.
Although most Yemenis are still in rural areas, life in the different cities is remarkably varied according to history and geography. But a constant is that no one knows whether the conflict will finally end or once again escalate. For ordinary people, living conditions, as elsewhere, depend on their access to cash: those who can afford it can eat and live reasonably, others stay malnourished and suffer.
Sana’a
While in earlier ages, tension was pervasive in Yemen’s capital Sana’a and people went to Aden in search of a more relaxed atmosphere, the reverse is now the case. Provided people show no hint of challenge to Ansar Allah (Huthi) rule, in Sana’a they can proceed with their daily lives without worries. Shops are well stocked, transport, electricity and water are available. Financially, things are difficult for the few who used to rely on the banking system as sanctions have brought it close to collapse. Account holders can only withdraw minimal amounts monthly, not enough to finance an adequate living standard. Nowadays, after years of non-payment, civil servants receive about half their official salaries with only limited delay. The main threats are from possible resumed Israeli and other air strikes or manifesting any doubt about the wisdom of Ansar Allah rule as this is likely to result in arrest and imprisonment. This affects those working with the humanitarian sector or the UN, 73 of whose employees are still held and some of whom are on trial as ‘spies.’
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A rally outside the U.S. Embassy in the Sawaan district of Sana’a last Wednesday to commemorate the humiliating withdrawal of US Marines from Yemen on February 11, 2015, which marked a pivotal moment in the nation’s history and the end of a phase of direct dominance over Yemen’s political decision-making [photo credit: Ansar Allah]
Hodeida
The Red Sea port of Hodeida is the other major city under Ansar Allah rule. Hodeida is a major industrial hub and the main port for arrival of basic necessities [remember that 90% of Yemen’s basic staples are imported]. Following considerable destruction of port and storage facilities by Israeli strikes in 2024 and last year, life is now returning to some kind of normality, though poverty is very much on the rise, and the supply of electricity and water is not very reliable. Fear from Ansar Allah arrests or further Israeli or US attacks are a constant reminder that the war is still on.
Taiz
Life in the southwestern city of Taiz is difficult. Unlike other cities Taiz is, and has been throughout the last decade, contested by a multiplicity of factions: not only do the Huthis control part of it, but the areas supposedly under control of the internationally recognised government [IRG] suffer constant competition for control between political components, including the Islamist Islah, the General People’s Congress, the Yemeni Socialist Party and more. While the local authorities try to distribute jobs and benefits between the groups, open warfare often occurs. Therefore, daily life is unpredictable and people must pay daily, sometimes hourly, attention to potential sites of conflict before engaging in basic activities like shopping or collecting water. Taiz is also one of the cities where the water crisis has been going on for decades, and its main sources of water are located in Huthi controlled areas, thus giving them a stranglehold over this resource essential to life. For residents insecurity and fear dominate their days.
Aden
The situation in Aden is undergoing significant changes now that the Southern Transitional Council [STC] is no longer running the city. The new security agencies, with active Saudi involvement, and led by a former Vice President of the STC who joined the IRG last month, are relocating military institutions out of the city and working to set up a loyal force, which will enable the new IRG government and the PLC to return to what is supposed to be the state’s interim capital. Insecurity is likely to persist for some time as the defeated STC faction [probably with UAE discreet support] will encourage incidents and assassinations, which may well involve al Qaeda and others. Meanwhile the new regime is doing its best to improve living conditions and, for the first time in many years, citizens now have almost constant electricity and water. Previously corruption and political blockades of fuel supplies reduced electricity availability to a few hours a day at best.
Mareb
Finally, Mareb has been exceptional in many ways since the war started. The city is located roughly 120 kilometres east of Sana’a. Fifteen years ago, it was little more than a village with the oil and gas facilities nearby including a domestic gas plant and an oil refinery, providing fuel for the country. Then local tribes often cut pipelines to demand benefits from the area’s wealth. The war has brought hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people [IDPs] and the city has expanded enormously. It is managed by a single entity throughout the decade of civil war, with a governor linked to the Islah party. Despite being close to a military front, as the Huthis want to take the hydrocarbon facilities, it has remained relatively stable. Thanks to the income from hydrocarbon extraction [now for local use since exports have been halted in October 2022] the local administration has financed local services and infrastructure and it has benefited from considerable international support due to the presence of the IDPs as well as its stability, geographical closeness to the Saudi border and population explosion.
Shared challenges
All these cities share some common features: variations in their daily security depends on the controlling factions’ ability to provide a stable environment. Everywhere families suffer from a defective education system with schools either closed or destroyed and those that are open are just partly staffed as teachers are paid only occasionally; there is insufficient equipment, whether books or basic furniture or water and toilets. Girls further suffer from the lack of female teachers and schools near enough for them to attend safely. Only 60% of medical facilities are working many of them only partially with increased risk of catching diseases including cholera and malaria, given the absence of safe water and sanitation. Only 63% of children are fully immunised and even polio has re-emerged, alongside measles and diphtheria thus creating further long-term medical issues.
WHO recently summarised the humanitarian emergency; half the population suffer extreme food insecurity, including more than 5 million in emergency conditions. Last year 19.5 million people needed assistance but only 10.5 million were targeted by the UN and far fewer than that number reached. Funding was a mere 28% of requirement and this year’s details have not yet been published. Simply put millions are suffering and struggling to survive in insecurity and uncertainty. One thing is clear: funding of all types won’t be anywhere near what is needed by the increasingly desperate population.
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