The Bab al-Mandab Strait has recently been at the forefront of the escalating events in the region due to the position of the strategic corridor, which is described as the fourth most important sea channel in the world and a main gateway connecting the east of the world to its west, making it the focus of conflict between the giant powers.
Its significance has increased in light of the Gulf oil countries' dependence on it for maritime shipping, as the number of ships and giant oil tankers that pass through it in both directions is estimated at more than 21,000 tankers annually (about 57 tankers on a daily basis).
On the other hand, there is only a small percentage of people who know about the suffering of thousands of people and residents of the “Bab Al-Mandab” area, which administratively belongs to the “Dhu Bab” district, west of Taiz Governorate. The residents there live in poor conditions, endure suffering, poverty, disease, and hunger in addition to the lack the most basic requirements, means of livelihood, and are deprived of their basic rights.
In fact, crises have befallen the people of Bab Al-Mandab, and the waves of poverty there have begun to compete with the mighty waves of the nearby sea, as they engage in a continuous struggle with life in light of the lack of public services that help them to resist the harshness of living, and no state pays attention to their suffering. In spite of their significant location as they border the Arabian Sea to the south, and the Red Sea to the west, but they are living amid successive crises, the most important of which is a stifling catastrophe of the lack of drinking water so that they are forced to bring from remote areas adjacent to Bab Al-Mandab in the “Dhu Bab” district, in addition to their suffering due to the absence of public services such as electricity, health and education.
Moath Musaad (pseudonym - 28 years old), a resident of the area, told Khuyut: “With regard to drinkable water, every ten days I buy a tanker with a capacity of one thousand liters at the cost of 8 thousand riyals, so I and my family of four members need to buy at least 3 water tankers every month."
Moath added that his area lacks electricity, health services, and education, in conjunction with severe living crises compounded by recent events in the Red Sea. They are also forced to fetch water from the “Al-Nabiya” area in the Al-Mudharaba District and Ras Al-Ara in Lahj Governorate (southern Yemen), at 25 kilometers distance from their residence.
In addition, fishermen in this region suffer from not being allowed to sail towards the coasts of other neighboring islands and areas, such as Mayun Island for fishing, which they are prohibited from approaching at night, while the escalation of the conflict and the rapid military operations in the Red Sea recently have reduced the distance of fishing trips a they are not allowed to approach the international shipping route.
Amid these crises, the livelihood of the approximately 18,000 residents of Bab Al-Mandab have been threatened, as fishermen find it extremely difficult to practice their fishing profession, in which a large percentage of them depend, in addition to their work in agriculture and livestock raising.
The suffering of fishermen
When you wander through the alleys of the area, and listen to the people there talking, you will find that most of them have lost the glimmer of hope they had. That's because they only concerned about their threatened source of livelihood represented by fishing, the sea, the fishing seasons, and the places where the fish are dense as well as the challenges which undermine their occupation which will not leave them alone, and will pursue them wherever they go.
The suffering of fishermen is greatly evident, as many of them found themselves between the hammer of the high cost of oil derivatives and the anvil of the escalating military incidents in the Red Sea, which exacerbated their poor living situation and led to a reduction in their level of income, since fishing is their main source of livelihood.
Elias Mohammad, a fisherman from the area, told Khuyut: “The high costs of petroleum derivatives are the key concern of fishermen in Bab Al-Mandab from which they suffer the most, as most of the fishermen who owned large fishing boats were obligated to abandon them and replace them with small boats with less fuel consuming machinery, which has become expensive in terms of its difficulty in supplying it and its high price.”
Large boats help fishermen in the process of sailing and fishing for far distances, and in reaching better places for fishing, but on the other hand, the operation of such capable boats requires large machines and thus increases fuel consumption, which fishermen cannot afford, and prompts them to sell large boats and buy smaller boats.
"We cannot afford a large amount of fuel to operate large boats, given our financial situation and the lack of any support to help us, whether from the relevant government agencies, or from civil society organizations, as there are no organizations operating in the Bab al-Mandab area.” Mohammad Added.
The costs of large boats have increased from 200 and 300 thousand riyals to incredible princes ranging between 800 thousand and one million riyals, while the price of small-sized boats reaches about 400 thousand riyals whereas there are some boats sold at a lower price of about 200 to 300 thousand, depending on the size of the boat. However, most of the fishermen in the Bab Al-Mandab area, including Elias, cannot afford high cost of fuel, as the price of one can of gasoline (20 liters) reaches about 28 thousand riyals.
In addition, fishermen in this region suffer from not being allowed to sail towards the coasts of other neighboring islands and areas, such as Mayun Island for fishing, which they are prohibited from approaching at night, while the escalation of the conflict and the rapid military operations in the Red Sea recently have reduced the distance of fishing trips a they are not allowed to approach the international shipping route.
The escalation of military operations in Bab Al-Mandab has many repercussions, according to a fishermen resident of the region, who preferred to remain anonymous, as he told Khuyut: “This has made many residents vulnerable to polarization, leaving their usual jobs and professions, and switching, for example, to work as soldiers, and joining the military forces present in the area. Moreover, some of them try to combine between fishing during the day and working at the military camp at night in order to secure more than one source of income to support their families, according the statements of some local residents.”
The crisis of lack of services
The Bab Al-Mandab Strait was supposed to be the main source of Yemen's electricity due to the abundant water currents and waterfalls that exist between the Bab Al-Mandab region and Mayun Island. Unfortunately, successive governments in Yemen over the past years and decades have not paid any consideration to this vital, important and strategic location and source of power.
The collapse of the national currency and the deterioration of the Yemeni riyal’s exchange rate against foreign currencies reduced the value of the teacher’s salary to less than $50, which made the teacher resort to fishing to provide a living, and also forced the student to leave school and turn to fishing which exacerbated the deterioration of education to the lowest level in this poor area.
Residents of the Bab Al-Mandab region, according to Khuyut's reporter, live in complete darkness, due to the lack of public power supply. There are only poles that were erected before the outbreak of the last war in Yemen in 2015, and a number of electrical generators that were purchased but have not been put into service since that time so that some of them even disappeared.
On the health aspect, Moath Mossad, a resident of Bab Al-Mandab, said that they lack medical staff in the area, and that there are only two midwives in the government health facility, stressing that the drug stores in the medical center do not have air conditioning, and are not suitable for storage which exposes it to expire. When we asked him: Where do you go for treatment for your illnesses? He said: “Many residents take their patients to Aden, Mokha, or to the city of Taiz due to the lack of specialized health services which are limited first aid in the Bab Al-Mandab area.”
Moreover, the Bab Al-Mandab are also suffering from poor education, as there is only one school, which is at risk of suspension at any moment, after its situation has deteriorated significantly.
Salim Abdullah, one of the teachers, explained to Khuyut that the collapse of the national currency and the deterioration of the Yemeni riyal’s exchange rate against foreign currencies reduced the value of the teacher’s salary to less than $50, which made the teacher resort to fishing to provide a living, and also forced the student to leave school and turn to fishing which exacerbated the deterioration of education to the lowest level in this poor area.
Geographic importance of location
The Bab Al-Mandab Strait is considered one of the most vital waterways in the world, and its importance increased with the opening of the Suez Canal in the late 1960s, as it became an important link for the shorter sea route, which connects East Asia and Europe, and extends from the Indian Ocean through the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden, and through Bab Al-Mandab to the Red Sea and then the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal.
Its economic reputation has clearly increased over the past years, as it has formed a sea corridor for international trade due to the effort, time, and cost it saves. It has now enjoyed heavy navigation traffic in both directions, as most trade exchange activities between Asia and Europe pass through it, and about 10% of global shipping traffic.
It is worth noting that the Bab Al-Mandab Strait has gained great economic rank since the 1930s, since the discovery of oil in the Arabian Gulf due to the waterway’s wide and deep features, and its ability to easily accommodate huge ships and oil tankers in both directions, while it has become one of the most important water crossings. of the world's energy resources.
Further, the Bab Al-Mandab Strait ranks third in the world in terms of transiting energy resources, after the Straits of Malacca and Hormuz, and most of the oil and natural gas exports from the Arabian Gulf pass through it, and cross the Suez Canal or the SUMED pipeline.
