- Title: Queues as far as the eye can see: Yemen hit by new fuel shortage
- Date: 29th September 2019
- Summary: SANAA, YEMEN (SEPTEMBER 16, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CARS QUEUED OUTSIDE GAS STATION MAN LYING NEXT TO HIS CAR LONG QUEUE OF CARS SANAA, YEMEN (SEPTEMBER 25, 2019) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SANAA RESIDENT, NASHWAN KHALED, SAYING: "It's affecting us and all the Yemeni people. May God not forgive whoever is the reason behind this. I've been queued up for more than two days for some fuel, I put my job and my life on hold, may god not forgive whoever is at fault." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE FILLING UP THEIR CARS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SANAA RESIDENT, AHMED NASSER, SAYING: "The international community is the one interfering in Yemen now. The Yemeni people are facing injustice, but God is with us. Today we are in a very bad situation, there's a fuel crisis and they are stopping fuel ships from entering Yemen with the excuse of security. What security? Now we are suffering shortages of fuel, goods, and other commodities." VARIOUS OF CARS BEING FILLED UP VARIOUS TOP SHOTS OF CARS QUEUED OUTSIDE GAS STATION VARIOUS OF CARS BEING FILLED UP / PEOPLE STANDING AROUND STATION VARIOUS OF MEN PUSHING CAR INTO GAS STATION (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DRIVER AND SANAA RESIDENT, ALY AL-ABAHY, SAYING: "I've been here since Maghrib (sunset) prayers yesterday. Since yesterday we're queued up in front of the gas station, there's no gas, no diesel, nothing. It's a deadly blockade, choking us and the country." VARIOUS OF CAR TOWING ANOTHER INTO GAS STATION VARIOUS OF PEOPLE STANDING / FILLING UP THEIR CARS SANAA, YEMEN (SEPTEMBER 16, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF HOUTHI OIL MINISTER ACCOMPANIED BY OFFICIALS WALKING INTO GAS STATION (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HOUTHI OIL MINISTER, AHMED ABDULLAH DARESS, SAYING: "We are taking some measures. Today we just left from the UN representative's office, Lisa Grande, where we discussed the possibility to release these seized ships, which has cost us penalties and losses and has impacted society because it has an effect on prices and the Yemeni citizen is affected by the price." VARIOUS OF SOLDIERS AROUND GAS STATION SANAA, YEMEN (SEPTEMBER 25, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CARS QUEUED OUTSIDE GAS STATIONS
- Embargoed: 13th October 2019 12:01
- Keywords: Yemen Fuel Shortage Oil Minister Houthi's Iran Petrol
- Location: SANAA, YEMEN
- City: SANAA, YEMEN
- Country: Yemen
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
- Reuters ID: LVA001AYPMZ4L
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: A fuel shortage is deepening Yemen's humanitarian crisis, forcing drivers to wait for days in queues that stretch back from some petrol stations as far as the eye can see.
The new shortage is just one of many problems causing suffering in the civil war being fought by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement and a Saudi-led coalition backed by the West.
But its consequences are far-reaching. Fuel is needed not just for cars but also for water pumps, hospital generators and to transport goods around a country where millions are on the brink of famine.
"It's affecting us and all the Yemeni people," said Nashwan Khaled, who had already been waiting for two days in a queue for petrol in Sanaa, the Houthi-controlled capital where many petrol stations have been forced to close.
"I put my job and my life on hold," he said.
Petrol on the black market is selling for almost three times the official price. Drivers can queue for two or three days.
Imports into areas controlled by Houthis have to go through stringent controls imposed by the Saudi-led military coalition which intervened in Yemen in 2015 to restore the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
Supplies can be held at ports and frontline borders for months because of bureaucracy on both sides, aid agencies say.
"Today we are in a very bad situation, there's a fuel crisis and they are stopping fuel ships from entering Yemen with the excuse of security," said Ahmed Nasser, standing at a petrol station. "We suffer shortages of fuel, goods, all commodities."
Last week, United Nations aid chief Mark Lowcock said he was concerned that imports were being further complicated by new Yemeni government regulations on commercial fuel.
He said earlier this month that the coalition and government were preventing 10 vessels carrying 163,000 metric tonnes of commercial fuel imports - more than an average month's imports - from entering the port of Hodeidah. Two of the ships have since been allowed to dock, port sources told Reuters.
The coalition's spokesman was not immediately available for comment. A government committee accused the Houthis of "fabricating" the fuel crisis in response to the regulations, Saudi state media said.
(Production: Tarek Fahmy, Abdelrahman al-Ansi, Adel Khedr) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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