ADEN, Yemen, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) — In Yemen’s southern port city of Aden and other neighboring cities, frustration is mounting as tens of thousands of employees have been experiencing months-long salary delays.
The postponement of payments is forcing numerous families of civil servants, teachers, and healthcare workers to the edge of survival. “Many families depend solely on a single government salary. Without it, they cannot make ends meet,” said Saleh Mansour, a government employee in Aden.
In a narrow alley of Aden’s Crater district, Umm Salim sits outside her modest home with her four children. The shelves inside are nearly bare. “We used to rely on my husband’s salary as a clerk at the ministry of education,” she said. “Now, three months without pay means we cannot buy rice or oil. My children go to school hungry.”
Her story is echoed across the city. Families say they have cut meals and borrowed heavily from neighbors. “We are trapped between humiliation and hunger,” said Samah Ali, a teacher in Aden. “How long can we survive on promises?”
In recent weeks, protests over financial uncertainty have spread to Taiz and other government-controlled cities. Demonstrators gathered outside government buildings, chanting slogans against corruption and demanding immediate payment of wages.
Several local activists and members of labor unions have called for strikes, warning that essential services may grind to a halt.
“The government must act now. People cannot wait,” said Hassan Omar, a member of a labor union representing civil servants in the southwestern Lahj province. “If salaries are not paid, we will have no choice but to escalate.”
The Yemeni government, based in Aden, recognizes the ongoing crisis and attributes it primarily to a severe liquidity shortage. Local officials have reported that revenue collections have declined, citing weak performance and the failure of certain agencies to transfer funds to the central bank.
“The central bank and the government have succeeded in halting the collapse of the Yemeni currency,” said Ramzy Sultan, an economic expert. “But ordinary people do not feel this stability in their daily lives. Without regular salaries … Unless the government enforces transparency and activates its revenue sources, the crisis will only deepen.”
The crisis is felt most sharply in schools. Teachers have staged a strike when the academic year began in late August, demanding overdue wages. Though the government promised payments, educators say nothing has reached them.
“At the start of the school year, we returned to classrooms because we trusted the government’s commitment,” said Mariam Ahmed, a teacher in Aden. “Now it feels like a betrayal.”
“Without salaries, we cannot continue teaching. Some of us cannot even afford transport to schools,” said Fatima Mohammed, a primary school teacher in Lahj. Parents have shared these concerns, noting that their children’s education is being disrupted.
“We sold my wife’s jewelry to buy notebooks and pencils,” said Sami, a father of five. “If the situation continues, I will have to keep my children at home. Education has become a luxury amid the absence of salaries.”
Amid growing unrest, senior officials are seeking foreign support to ease the crisis.
A government source told Xinhua on Monday that the Yemeni leadership is holding discussions to “secure fresh economic support from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to stabilize the local currency and enable the disbursement of overdue salaries.”
In northern areas controlled by the Houthi group, employees face a similar challenge. Salaries are often disbursed only once every three months, leaving families without a steady income for extended periods.
Ahmed Khaled, a teacher in the Houthi-controlled city of Ibb in central Yemen, said the irregular payments have become part of life. “The delays are so frequent that I cannot even recall the last time I held a salary slip in my hand,” he said. “Each month passes into the next, and our families wait in uncertainty.”
The crisis of unpaid salaries occurs against the backdrop of a broader conflict between the Yemeni government and the Houthis, which has torn Yemen apart.
On Monday, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher briefed the UN Security Council on the situation in Yemen, noting that Yemen is now “the third most food insecure country on earth.”
“Before February next year, 1 million more people are expected to be forced into extreme hunger, joining 17 million Yemenis with too little to eat,” he said.
Noting that almost half of Yemenis are “now suffering severe food deprivation, a jump from 36 percent just one year ago,” Fletcher reported that at least “one in three families is experiencing moderate to severe hunger.”
The UN official appealed for urgent funding, warning, “We must not allow mass hunger to define the future of Yemen.”
