"A terrible collapse".. The Transitional Council admits the failure and inability of its government to save Aden from a "humanitarian disaster" and mobilizes its forces

The Southern Transitional Council admitted, on Wednesday, the failure and inability of its government to save Aden from a humanitarian disaster, at a time when it mobilized its forces in the streets of the city in anticipation of popular demonstrations protesting the collapse of services after the electricity system was completely shut down.

For the first time in its history, the coastal city in southern Yemen plunged into complete darkness as a result of a complete power outage at 12 midnight local time due to the depletion of the last amount of fuel to operate the main power station.

The Electricity Corporation in Aden warned on Tuesday that this "will affect all vital sectors, as hospitals and health facilities will be shut down, water fields will stop, and commercial activities will be disrupted, which will double the suffering of citizens, who bear the burdens of this crisis amid difficult living conditions."

I admit the collapse of the situation

The Southern Transitional Council acknowledged the poor conditions, as the administrative body of the so-called National Assembly stated that it had stood in a meeting before the "horrific collapse" in services in the capital, Aden, resulting from the complete shutdown of power generation stations, and issued a statement regarding this.

The statement said, "The capital, Aden, is now facing a catastrophic situation in light of the complete absence of the Presidential Leadership Council and the government, and their complete failure to carry out their responsibilities."

He added, "The capital has become deprived of the most basic services, as a result of the government's inability to carry out and assume its responsibilities towards the people in the southern governorates and liberated areas."

Despite the Transitional Council's control over the Presidential Leadership Council and the government, its administrative body expressed its complete rejection of what it described as "exploiting this suffering and directing it to pass clear political goals and agendas targeting the people of the south and their cause, serving only the Houthi militias and terrorist groups," according to the statement.

The statement pointed to the increasing deterioration of the local currency against foreign currencies, and the accompanying rise in food and consumer prices and the increasing cost of living, not to mention the complete cessation of electricity service in the capital, Aden, which is unprecedented since electricity was introduced to it about a century ago.

He stressed that this "has become a threat to hospitals stopping work and water supplies to all the capital's directorates being cut off, a situation that reflects the government's and the Leadership Council's inability to provide sufficient shipments of diesel and fuel oil to operate power plants, and their inability to secure the arrival of crude oil shipments from Hadhramaut Governorate to the capital, Aden."

The STC statement called on "the Arab coalition countries, especially our brothers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, to urgently intervene to stop the worsening and catastrophic deterioration of the service, living and economic situation and save the capital, Aden, and the rest of the southern governorates from a humanitarian disaster."

The Administrative Board of the National Assembly calls on our brothers in Saudi Arabia and the Emirates to urgently intervene and save Aden from a humanitarian disaster (statement) https://t.co/2b2woMJ1PE pic.twitter.com/3hysVxUsiW

— Southern Transitional Council (@STCSouthArabia) February 5, 2025

Military alert

In parallel, the Southern Transitional Council deployed military vehicles in the parade square in Khormaksar District in anticipation of demonstrations denouncing the collapse of services, hours after storming Martyrs Square in Mansoura District.

Activists and local sources reported that the security and military alert of the Transitional Council forces in Aden came one day after a peaceful demonstration organized by citizens, during which they expressed their deep dissatisfaction with the tragic conditions witnessed in Aden Governorate, amid an unprecedented deterioration in services and the deterioration of living and security conditions.

#Now_Live .. Transitional militias deploy military vehicles in the parade square in Khormaksar District

- Whenever signs of popular anger appear in Aden, the city's streets are filled with heavily armed military vehicles, to prevent people from exercising their most basic rights of peaceful expression, in a scene that encapsulates the tragedy of a city trapped between service crises and repression... pic.twitter.com/aSycgMhuUw

— Sons of Aden Platform (@Aden_newss) February 5, 2025

Popular anger

This comes at a time when popular anger is rising against the Transitional Council, which controls Aden and controls the decision of the Presidential Leadership Council, and the government, most of whose members belong to the separatist council supported by the UAE, which is now facing charges of corruption and failure.

In this context, activist Sarah Abdullah Hassan wrote, criticizing the Transitional Council: “You want gains and positions from your partnership with legitimacy, and you evade responsibility, and you find justifications after justifications for your failure, while in reality you have become a partner in corruption, favoritism, and oppression, and you practice everything that our great people revolted against.”

Sarah, who was considered one of the most enthusiastic supporters of the separatist transitional project, added: “The excuse of the deep state (in which everyone has become a partner) is evidence that your project is an authority and not a state of authority shared by you, your loyalists and your clan, exposed by the millions of dollars you have earned after the war while your people are dying of hunger.”

She continued: "As a partner in power (who agreed to take over the Ministry of Electricity) and with Aden's resources and the support of the coalition in your hands, you were not even able to provide electricity to the people. Rather, you were the first stick to beat the people if they thought of demonstrating to improve their living conditions, while your media beats them with the stick of treason and distorting their legitimate demands..."

Sarah continued her attack on the Transitional Council: "Do not brag about an army of the oppressed and their dreams, as this army has not worked until now to restore a state, but rather to protect the corrupt and to protect your thrones, and to be your card with which you blackmail others to obtain more positions and private interests that strengthen your authority."

She concluded: "You forgot that power is fleeting but the homeland is eternal, and that if you regained the homeland, you would then gain power. But if you continue like this, panting after power, you will lose everything, and this will soon be your fate, because you are in a position that you do not deserve."

A message to the Transitional Council.. I know that I will pay a lot of treason for it, and it will not be the first time I have been attacked, but I will not care.
I criticized former President Ali Saleh, the Brotherhood and the Houthis, and I was silent for a long time about what the Transitional Council was doing, but I will not be silent anymore.
I say to the Transitional Council: There is a difference between someone whose project is a state and…

— Sarah Abdullah Hassan (@sarah_yafei) February 5, 2025

Earlier today, the Local Corporation for Water and Sanitation in Aden warned of a complete halt to water and sanitation services as the remaining reserve fuel is about to run out. It said in a statement, "The fuel quantities it recently obtained from the governor of Aden and the World Bank will run out completely within the next 24 hours."

The statement explained that the total shutdown of the Aden electricity system, and the failure to provide fuel to operate the electric generators that operate the water well fields, sewage pumps, and the isthmus, which cover the periods of power outages in these locations, will lead to a final cessation of water and sewage services.

Reuters quoted Salem Al-Walidi, director of the Aden Electricity Corporation, as saying that the power outage was “a result of the halt in the supply of crude oil that powers the station coming from the oil-rich Hadhramaut province, due to the armed tribes’ alliance’s refusal to allow any oil-laden trucks to leave the province, despite the appeals of the residents and the Aden Electricity Corporation.”

Last Sunday, the Hadhramaut Tribal Alliance announced a ban on the export of crude oil from the governorate, in a move it said came "to preserve Hadhramaut's wealth and after the people of Hadhramaut gave the Presidential Leadership Council sufficient time to decide on implementing Hadhramaut's legitimate entitlements."