Egypt Daily News – Hundreds of Yemeni women took to the streets in Aden, southern Yemen, on Saturday to protest the continued deterioration of economic and living conditions, the collapse of basic services, and prolonged power outages.
The protest, held under the slogan “The Women’s Revolution in Aden,” featured banners demanding electricity, improved living standards, education, salaries, healthcare, and better public services in Aden—the country’s declared interim capital and seat of government—as well as in the southern provinces.
Aden and neighboring governorates in the south and east are currently experiencing an unprecedented electricity crisis due to severe fuel shortages needed to power generation plants. Authorities are only able to supply electricity for four hours a day.
The protest banners also carried slogans critical of the government and the Southern Transitional Council (STC), the main power-sharing partner and security force in control of Aden.
Bassem Al-Qadi, journalist and head of the Humanitarian Journalism Foundation in Aden, said: “The peaceful protest by Aden’s women to demand their basic right to electricity represents a voice for justice and truth. Their daily suffering from continuous and worsening power outages highlights a complete failure in resource management and in meeting the most basic needs of citizens.”
He described the women’s protest as “a bold cry against the government’s silence and indifference toward public demands.”
Mervat Ahmed Mohammed, one of the Yemeni protesters, told Reuters, “We came out to make our voices heard by the world—our government has failed to provide even the bare minimum for a dignified life.”
She added, “We’re fed up with the continued economic and living decline. Power outages are causing unbearable suffering, especially for the elderly, amid unbearable heat and humidity.”
Angela Hussein Al-Baydani, a human rights activist and head of the Noor Al-Salam Foundation, as well as a member of the Supreme Women’s Committee in Lahj governorate, said the worsening crises reflect the absence of effective leadership.
Aden and southern regions remain paralyzed by a power struggle between the Saudi-backed government and its partner, the STC. While both are allies in the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Iran-aligned Houthi group in the north for over a decade, escalating disputes between them have disrupted public services. Frequent blackouts have in turn impacted water distribution, aid delivery, and healthcare, according to observers and analysts.
