Local Editor
Already suffering grievously under nearly two years of civil war, many thousands of Yemeni state workers now face destitution as their salaries have gone largely unpaid for months.
The immediate reason is a decision by the regime of ex-President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi to shift Yemen's central bank out of Sana’a, the capital city of the Houthi Ansarullah movement.
Underlying the bank's move to Aden, the southern port where the regime is based, is a struggle for legitimacy between the two sides. The result is to deepen economic hardship when four-fifths of Yemen's 28 million people already need some form of humanitarian aid, according to U.N. estimates.
"I sold everything I have to cover the rent and the price of the children's school and food. I have nothing left to sell," said Ashraf Abdullah, 38, a government employee in Sanaa.
"Salaries have become a playing card in the war, and no one cares about the fate of the people who die of starvation every day," the father of two told Reuters.
At least 10,000 people have been killed in the fighting while millions face poverty and starvation. Saudi Arabia intervened in March 2015 to back fugitive President Hadi.
The crisis has affected tens of thousands of employees in Sanaa alone, a source in the Civil Services ministry said.
Current and retired soldiers demanding their dues have even regularly demonstrated in Aden's streets in recent days, suggesting the non-payments may not be strictly political.
Diplomats and analysts worry about the consequences of transferring the bank away from its veteran staff in Sana’a.
"The new central bank in Aden remains unequipped - on the basis of manpower alone - to handle the duties that its predecessor institution did," said Adam Baron, a Yemen expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
Meanwhile, many Yemenis can no longer wait for a solution.
"This is our fifth month without a salary, and we live by borrowing from the corner store, but now they are refusing to give us anything are calling in their debt, said Abdullah Ahmed, 50, a soldier in the interior ministry. "The landlord is demanding rent for the apartment ... we're dying, not living. Every door is being closed in our faces."
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
