With the ongoing deterioration of services and the escalation in Hadramout, the need for comprehensive and effective solutions are apparently more urgent than ever.

Abdullah Al-Shadli (South24)

Hadramout, the biggest governorate in South Yemen, is witnessing an intensifying deterioration in the basic services. This comes amid the rising political and popular ire. Over the past weeks, three sharp tensions have escalated between the local tribes and authorities. The powerful Hadramout Tribes Confederacy (HTC), also known as The Hadramout Tribal Alliance, is leading a campaign to pressure the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) to achieve the local demands with an aim to improve livelihood conditions and restore the governorate’s rights.

This came concurrently with the July 27 visit to the governorate by the PLC Chairman Rashad Al-Alimi, which didn’t help to mitigate the situation but rather enhanced the popular and tribal demands, led by sheikh Amr Bin Habresh and the Inclusive Hadramout Conference. Al-Alimi’s visit, which has been linked to the attempts to resume oil exports from Hadramout through a Houthi agreement, came at a time when services, especially in the electricity sector, had almost collapsed. This has pushed people to express their anger through demonstrations and protests in Mukalla and other areas in the oil-rich governorate.

The Deterioration of Services

Hadramout’s cities suffer from an electricity crisis as power outage durations have reached to more than 14 hours a day. The oil companies accuse the HTC of hindering the transport of fuel supplies to the governorates through armed checkpoints around oil fields in Hadramout.

Some taxi drivers as well as owners of industries, like the cement factories, told ’South24 Center‘ that they have been forced to suspend their activities for days due to the growing price of a diesel plate (20 liters) to about 70,000 Yemeni riyals in the black market. This has been due to the lack of fuel in the official distribution stations. Such a choking crisis has also led to a spike in the diesel price, which reached 1,550 riyals per liter, pushing the drivers of public transport buses to announce the launching of escalatory steps last month, to protest the massive price hike. 

In another escalation move, the General Student Union of Hadramout University announced on September 2 the launching of a comprehensive strike in the education process across different university departments to protest against the deterioration of the economic and services conditions in the governorate, in addition to the sharp increase in the fuel prices which had led to rise in transportation fees. They were also protesting the increase in registration fees for the new academic year, which had made life difficult for students.

Popular and Political Tension

On September 4, the HTC said: “We condemn the crime of using a grenade against peaceful protesters, including citizens and fishermen of Al-Shihr in Ghayl Ba Wazir district which injured some people who were moved to hospitals to receive medical treatment.”

This incident came along with the growing popular and political ire in the governorate, which has led to the outbreak of night demonstrations in Mukalla and Ghayl Ba Wazir.

The Southern Transitional Council (STC), which has repeatedly supported popular movements and protests in Hadramout due to its wide mass popularity, hasn’t publicly endorsed the HTC’s activities. The STC President Aidrous Al-Zubaidi previously told ’South24 Center‘ that they back all the rights demand of the Hadrami people. However, he recalled that the HTC had ignored important files, such as the move to drive the 1st Military District, which includes Northern Brigades, out of the valley and desert of Hadramout.

On August 28, two days after an expanded meeting, the STC announced the establishment of a committee to “unite the ranks, restore the governorate’s rights and support the efforts of the Hadrami Elite Forces” (affiliated with the Second Military District in the Coast of Hadramout). This decision was hailed by some Hadrami tribes such as Siban and Noah.

The STC said that the committee’s tasks include communicating with the local authority and the civil and tribal entities to build consensus over its vision and goals. This is in addition to acknowledging their fears and concerns, adopting mechanisms for dealing with them, and issuing reports that show the outcomes of its work within 30 days.

Hadramout Governor, Mabkhout bin Madi, welcomed the outcomes of the expanded meeting of the STC leaders. This was during a meeting between him and STC Presidium Member Ali Al-Jabwani as well as the Head of the Executive Body of the STC’s Local Leadership Saeed Ahmed Al-Mohammadi.

On September 5, the HTC warned against “any irresponsible actions that may lead to clashes with the alliance’s members”. It stressed that any attack against the HTC members will be considered as targeting all Hadrami people.

This came a day after a checkpoint in the Al-Hamraa camp affiliated with the 2nd Military District didn’t allow the passage of tribal armed groups belonging to the HTC unless they handed over their weapons, according to sources close to the HTC leadership who spoke to ’South24 Center‘. We haven’t been able to communicate with the 2nd Military District to verify the authenticity of this information.

On the same day, the HTC launched its escalation moves in the district of Al-Dees Al-Sharqia in Hadramout. The HTC also announced a tribal deployment, west of Mukalla, to block the exit of oil and resources from the governorate, according to the statement. The alliance released videos showing the spread of its armed tribal members at the deployment points.

Al-Kaash Saeed Al-Saeedi, the HTC Spokesperson, told ’South24 Center‘ that the alliance has begun increasing the pressure to achieve its demands, which mainly include preventing the exit of Hadramout's resources outside the governorate and directing them to serve the interests of its people.

Despite the growing tension between the HTC and local authorities, Al-Saeedi stressed that the relationship is still friendly and that the dispute is based on the implementation of the demands directed to the PLC as there have been no tangible efforts so far to implement the agreements.

Al-Saeedi believes that the local authority hasn't acknowledged the HTC’s committee that is in charge of supervising the distribution of diesel among the Hadramout electricity providers. According to him, the committee was established to ensure the distribution of the necessary amounts of diesel to people. He pointed out that the HTC continues its efforts to guarantee providing diesel to those who deserve it, stressing on the importance of cooperation on the part of the local authority.

The spokesperson added that the HTC strongly rejects the exit of crude oil from Hadramout, due to the governorate’s suffering in light of the deterioration of services, especially electricity. He denied the existence of any conflict between the HTC and the Hadrami Elite Forces which are part of the Hadrami people according to him. He stressed that the alliance is seeking to enhance the role of these forces in the face of challenges.

On Monday (September 11) , the HTC released a statement on its official Facebook page casting doubts on the local authority’s credibility and also raised questions about the whereabouts of large amounts of diesel fuel that haven’t been acknowledged or disclosed by the authority.

The statement said: “The Authority acknowledges that the amount of subsidized diesel fuel received from PetroMasila daily is 745,000 liters for the Hadramout coast and 175,000 liters for the valley, bringing the total to 920,000 liters for the governorate. However, there are reports that a missing large amount has not been acknowledged or disclosed, by the authority although it is part of the governorate’s share of PetroMasila and is paid for through the governorate’s oil company”.

It added: “Based on available information and documents over the past period, there is much discrepancy between the acknowledged amounts and the actual available one. This raises questions about the fate of these large missing amounts and the bodies benefiting from that considering the authority’s denial of receiving them. This is considered the fundamental issue and the black hole that is forbidden to approach. This requires an accurate investigation around it.”

The HTC Spokesman denied that their moves are driven by personal interests or political greed, including the tribal sheikh Amr Bin Habresh.

It is worth mentioning that Rashad Al-Alimi issued a decision on August 20 to establish a presidential committee to look into the demands of Hadramout, based on the understandings reached during his July visit. The committee, which includes governmental and tribal figures, aims at providing legal solutions to the governorate's issues, according to the official Saba News Agency.

On the other hand, STC Vice President and PLC Member, Faraj Al-Bahsani, criticized the establishment of the committee, considering it as a waste of time and to downplay the serious issues. He called for taking direct decisions or holding an emergent crisis meeting to solve the problems in an immediate and firm way.

The Need for Uniting Ranks

Political analyst Anwar Al-Tamimi believes that Hadramout needs to reformulate its national strategy in a way that suits the current developments in the region. He stressed the importance of uniting political forces and the social movement in Hadramout to build an inclusive project aiming to achieve comprehensive development and social justice. He warned that the continuation of divisions will weaken Hadramout, making it vulnerable to manipulation by external forces.

Regarding his view of the local authority, Al-Tamimi told ’South24 Center‘: “It suffers from deficient performance. It relies on central directions. This limits its ability to make independent decisions”. According to him, the local authority’s lack of strategic vision hinders the investment in the available capabilities. He called for making ”drastic reforms in its performance that would enable it to effectively manage the governorate’s affairs”.

Commenting on the current crisis in Hadramout, Al-Tamimi believes that the interventions by the central authority obstruct the efforts for local development. He stressed that giving wider powers in the hands of the local authority is the solution as this will enable it to manage the governorate and achieve sustainable development.

Furthermore, Al-Tamimi said that the STC’s current role in Hadramout is limited to popular and symbolic activities. He believes that the STC needs to go beyond this and participate effectively in the political process as well as build partnerships with other political forces to achieve the aspirations of the Hadrami people.

With the ongoing deterioration of services and the escalation of tensions in Hadramout, the need for comprehensive and effective solutions are apparently more urgent than ever. The political agendas that aren’t based on achieving the governorate’s welfare and stability may hide from view any real opportunities that protect Hadramout from sliding into the sphere of violence or turmoil. This puts a big responsibility on the shoulders of the main forces in the governorate, especially the local authority, tribes, and the STC.