One year on, Yemenis in Sanaa want Houthis out

Residents long for the return of president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi's government to the capital on the first anniversary of the rebels' takeover, writes Mohammed Al Qalisi

People gather at the site of a Saudi-led air strike in Yemen's capital Sanaa on September 21, 2015, as the coalition ramped up air raids on the first anniversary of the Houthi takeover of Sanaa. Khaled Abdullah/ReutersShow less

ADEN // One year after the Houthis took over control of Sanaa, residents of Yemen's capital are calling for the return of their government, while some Houthi supporters have turned against the Shiite rebels.
Many people have lost their jobs, students have stopped going to school, and the price of fuel in the black market has doubled.
The Houthis declared Monday a national holiday in Yemen and called for a mass rally to mark the first anniversary of their takeover, even as Saudi-led coalition warplanes unleashed a fresh wave of air strikes on rebel targets in the capital.
However, residents such as Qais Al Wasei want the government of president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi to return and free Sanaa from the Houthis.
"I hope that the fighters loyal to Hadi can free Sanaa from the Houthis so that our regular lives can be restored," Mr Al Wasei said.
The 35-year-old tailor wants to return to work again, having lost his job since the Houthis took over one year ago. He hopes the government will return to provide basic services such as power, water and fuel.
Currently, electricity in Sanaa is only available one hour each day and residents have to pay for people to transport clean water from wells outside of the city by car.
The Houthis took over Sanaa and several other provinces under the pretext of restoring the fuel subsidy programme that the Yemeni government had lifted in July 2014.
However, since the Houthis' capture of Sanaa and the fleeing of Mr Hadi's government to Aden and eventually Saudi Arabia, the capital has suffered from a major fuel shortage and the rebels have been unable to reimplement subsidies. Prices have more than tripled and a 20-litre barrel of petrol is now 10,000 Yemeni riyals (Dh170), up from 3,000.
All of these problems have caused several Houthi supporters to become anti-Houthi, though those contacted by The National did not want to be identified or quoted.
With the return of Mr Hadi's government to Aden, and most of the south coming under the control of the Popular Resistance and the coalition forces, regular life in the southern port city has started to return to normal.
The UAE, which has played a key role in rebuilding Aden and providing humanitarian aid to Yemen, on Monday urged the international community to step up its presence in Yemen.
Sheikha Lubna bint Khalid Al Qasimi, Minister of International Cooperation and Development (Micad) and head of the UAE Committee for the Coordination of Humanitarian Foreign Aid, called for the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and international NGOs to provide more humanitarian aid to Aden and its surrounding regions.
Sanaa residents hope that the capital will also return to normal like Aden has.
Doctor Saleh Obaid, 30, was forced to shut down his Al Shifa clinic in the Al Giraf area of Sanaa after the Houthis took over.
"Before the so-called 21 September revolution, I used to work with 13 employees in the dispensary, and then I reduced the number to five employees and finally, I could not pay the salaries of the employees and closed down the dispensary last May," Dr Obaid told The National.
He tried to buy fuel for a generator from the black market, but it cost too much and he could no longer keep his dispensary open.
"I am now a jobless man, waiting for life to return to the city so I can reopen my dispensary again, or at least work with a private hospital in Sanaa," he said.
Several other dispensaries and hospitals also had to close their doors as economic conditions in Sanaa deteriorated, leading to a rise in unemployment. While many residents decided to return to their home provinces to find work, Hani Abdulghani stayed on, hoping that the situation in Sanaa would improve.
Mr Abdulghani had been working as an accountant for the Yemen Times newspaper since 2007.
But when the Houthis stormed several newspapers in Sanaa, the newspaper was forced to stop publication and all its employees - more than fifty of them - were fired.
"Yemen Times stopped publishing and shut down its radio facilities last April, and I became a jobless. I have been looking for work since then."
His life savings have sustained his family of four so far, but it will likely run out in a few months.
"Even if the condition is very bad, I need to eke out a livelihood for my family," Mr Abdulghani said.
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* Additional reporting from Wam