Electricity

Analysis December 12, 2025 11:09 MIN The STC Moves Into Eastern Yemen – Reaction from Sana’a Center Experts By Hussam Radman, Yasmeen al-Eryani, Abdulghani Al-Iryani, and Maysaa Shuja Al-Deen In early December, armed forces affiliated with the secessionist, UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) seized control of Hadramawt and Al-Mahra, displacing tribal forces led by Amr Bin Habrish and 1st Military Region army units affiliated with the Islah party. With its eastward expansion, the STC now controls nearly all of the territory of the former South Yemen state, including its most productive oil fields. The takeover has ushered in a new phase of the Yemen conflict, with the potential for territorial lines to be redrawn and the regional balance of power now in flux. Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) chief Rashad al-Alimi and Prime Minister Salem bin Breik have left the interim capital for Saudi Arabia, where they have held a… Continue reading Main Publications December 11, 2025 03:03 MIN Energy Transition in Yemen: A Path to Justice and Sustainable Development By Abeer Al-Eryani, and Musaed Aklan Yemen’s energy sector is currently facing a severe crisis. For millions of Yemenis, accessing reliable electricity is a daily struggle, characterized by prolonged blackouts, limited fuel supplies, and deteriorating infrastructure, which in turn exacerbate the country's humanitarian conditions. This policy brief underscores the importance of a just and conflict-sensitive energy transition in Yemen, addressing the interconnected challenges of conflict, economic instability, and energy poverty. It emphasizes the urgent need for an energy transition that enhances energy access, promotes decarbonization, and supports peacebuilding and socioeconomic recovery. The brief outlines the current energy landscape in Yemen, identifies critical policy gaps, and highlights both top-down and grassroots opportunities for sustainable energy development. It acknowledges the significant challenges in the energy sector, including its… Continue reading Analysis August 26, 2025 09:03 MIN Hadramawt on Edge: Public Outcry Exposes Governance Crisis By Mohammed al-Katheri The outbreak of violent protests across Hadramawt since late July has plunged the region into chaos, as political, military, and tribal groups vie for control of Yemen’s largest governorate. Persistent fuel shortages have caused severe blackouts in the capital, Mukalla, and other cities across Hadramawt, as hundreds of people have taken to the streets for weeks of protests. Chief among the protestors’ grievances has been failing public services, primarily severe electricity and water shortages. While security forces have attempted to restore order, and electricity provision has improved, continuing widespread demonstrations and the lack of a coordinated response from Hadramawt’s milieu of political actors point to a deeper and more systemic crisis. Recent developments have left many reconsidering the future of… Continue reading Analysis August 19, 2025 06:19 MIN Rial Surges Under Revitalized Central Bank By Sana’a Center Economic Unit The Yemeni rial has seen a dramatic recovery since late July, appreciating by over 44 percent after months of hemorrhaging value. Its sudden rise is the result of a multi-pronged approach led by the government-run Central Bank of Yemen in Aden (CBY-Aden). Key measures have included curbing speculation and currency manipulation, institutionalizing import financing, and mandating the exclusive use of the rial in domestic transactions. These reforms received unprecedented political backing from the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), the government, and local authorities, a pivotal shift in combating the systemic weaknesses that have long undermined the stability of the currency. By mid-July, the new Yemeni rial, which circulates in government-controlled areas, had tumbled to YR2,900 per US$1, its worst collapse since… Continue reading Main Publications August 4, 2025 08:01 MIN Yemen International Forum 2025 Report The third Yemen International Forum (YIF III) took place in Amman from February 16 - 18, 2025, gathering more than 300 participants to discuss peace prospects and stability in Yemen. Since the outbreak of the war on Gaza in October 2023, Yemen has been tested in myriad ways. Attacks on the Red Sea and the rising prominence of the Houthis within the “Axis of Resistance” have thrust Yemen into regional conflict, undermining hope for an end to its decade-long war. Since the last YIF held in the Hague in June 2023, where discussions centered on cautious optimism for a potential peace settlement, Yemen has undertaken a dramatic U-turn. Peace efforts have taken a backseat while international attention has increasingly turned… Continue reading Yemen Review section July 22, 2025 14:58 MIN April-June 2025 Military and Security — The Yemen Review, April-June 2025 By William Clough Spring 2025 marked a turbulent new phase in Yemen’s conflict, as the region experienced one of its most volatile and contradictory periods in recent years. In the past three months, an intensified US air campaign, multiple Israeli airstrikes, a rumored anti-Houthi ground offensive, and direct military confrontation between Israel and Iran deepened regional instability and emboldened the Houthi group (Ansar Allah) as it seeks to position itself as the vanguard of the Axis of Resistance in the defense of Gaza against Israel and its Western allies. In Yemen, much of the early spring was defined by Operation Rough Rider, the 52-day US military campaign to degrade Houthi capabilities and secure maritime shipping. Launched on March 15, the operation rapidly surpassed… Continue reading Yemen Review section July 22, 2025 14:34 MIN April-June 2025 Politics and Diplomacy — The Yemen Review, April-June 2025 By Casey Coombs On May 3, Yemen’s embattled Prime Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak resigned after just over a year in office, following months of clashes with Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) chief Rashad al-Alimi, as well as other PLC and cabinet members. Finance Minister Salem bin Breik was immediately named as his replacement. Bin Mubarak said his resignation stemmed from his efforts to assert his constitutional authority to overhaul the cabinet, an endeavor which was stymied by the PLC. He clashed repeatedly with Al-Alimi over his attempt to appoint 12 new ministers and resisted pushes by the Southern Transitional Council (STC) to place loyal deputies in ministries. On March 7, only three ministers attended a cabinet meeting called by Bin Mubarak at Al-Maashiq… Continue reading Editorial July 22, 2025 03:25 MIN April-June 2025 Yemenis Deserve Leaders Who Will Put Their Interests First Yemen’s ongoing economic collapse is a tragedy starring a myriad of actors, none of them innocent. The situation has become even more dire in recent weeks amid delays in anticipated financial support from Saudi Arabia for the government of recently-appointed Prime Minister Salem bin Breik, and as the Houthis create an even more repressive environment for humanitarian organizations, civil society groups, and financial institutions. As successive political and economic disasters feed into each other, it’s as if the government and the Houthis are competing over who can better fail the Yemeni people. Since the Saudi-sponsored, UN-backed truce officially ended in October 2022, hopes for a gradual return to economic normalcy, or at least steps toward recovery, have been repeatedly dashed.… Continue reading Analysis May 16, 2025 06:10 MIN A New Prime Minister is Not the Answer By Abdulghani Al-Iryani, and Wadhah Al-Awlaqi Ever since the internationally recognized government fled from Sana’a after the Houthi takeover in 2014, it has failed to develop a strategy to adapt to its new environment and the challenges it poses. Instead, it has continued to act as if nothing has happened, and only a few tweaks are required to keep going. This can be seen clearly in the decision to maintain large cabinets, along with hundreds of deputy ministers added to accommodate the relatives of powerful government figures. Whenever conditions deteriorated, the miracle cure would be a cabinet reshuffle drawing from the same pool of corrupt officials. Each new prime minister presented a government program that they knew, and everyone else knew, could not be implemented. So… Continue reading Yemen Review section April 21, 2025 12:31 MIN January-March 2025 Politics and Diplomacy — The Yemen Review, January-March 2025 By Casey Coombs The year-long Houthi (Ansar Allah) campaign of military attacks on Red Sea shipping came to a halt on January 19, following news of a ceasefire agreement in Gaza. Houthi leader Abdelmalek al-Houthi announced a conditional suspension of the attacks on US- and UK-affiliated shipping as long as Western airstrikes in Yemen ceased. However, the group said Israeli-linked vessels would still be barred from Red Sea transit and threatened to resume attacks if the Gaza ceasefire deal was broken. Two days into the ceasefire, the Houthis released the crew of the Galaxy Leader, a cargo ship the group had hijacked in November 2023. Houthi officials said the move came at the request of Hamas and Omani mediators. Despite the Houthi pause… Continue reading Yemen Review section April 21, 2025 18:21 MIN January-March 2025 The Economy — The Yemen Review, January-March 2025 By Wadhah Al-Awlaqi, and Aylin Junga The first quarter of 2025 saw escalating US sanctions against the Houthis. The sanctions, intended to suffocate the Houthis financially, could have a negative impact on Yemen’s already fragile financial system, and threaten to disrupt flows of crucial humanitarian aid and remittances, further destabilizing the economy. In mid-January, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the Yemen Kuwait Bank for Trade and Investment for providing financial support to the Houthis. OFAC accused the bank of allowing the Houthis to exploit the Yemeni banking sector to launder money and transfer funds to their allies, including the Lebanese group Hezbollah. The bank was also alleged to have helped the Houthis establish and finance front companies involved… Continue reading Editorial February 4, 2025 03:09 MIN October-December 2024 A Last Chance to Tackle Corruption Yemenis have always known that the country’s politics are riven with corruption, but there’s nothing quite like scandalous revelations in the press to bring the point home. Tensions between the prime minister and president and a prolonged standoff between two veteran bureaucrats seem to have been the catalyst for a flood of media leaks that have dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s for observers and ordinary citizens alike on the deep corruption afflicting the state. News media has published details from leaked official reports detailing corruption in the telecoms sector, lavish spending at the consulate in Jeddah and other diplomatic missions, and the establishment of a US$2.8 billion commercial entity in an Omani duty-free zone by state oil firm… Continue reading