Yemen rages over long power blackouts

Hundreds of thousands of Yemeni students have taken to the streets across the country to express their frustration over the recent power cuts which have left several cities in long periods of blackouts.

Students have complained the power cuts are affecting their school performances with final exams approaching to end the school year.

The outages which last for extended periods of time are a result of attacks on power lines and power stations leaving cities with power shortages.

This week, students have organized several demonstrations in Sana’a, Aden, Hodaida as well as Mukalla, calling on the government to find a swift sustainable solution to the power shortages.

Students resort to studying by candlelight as the electricity shortage ensues.

According to Gulf News, Yemen’s president Abd Mansour Hadi met with the governor of Mareb and security chiefs in the province to discuss a solution to stop the attacks on the major power plant in the country. Hadi said that he would take serious measures towards the military units who are responsible in protecting the electricity and pipelines.

“The barbaric attacks on power lines have caused the death of premature babies, patients in the ICUs, dialysis patients and who suffer from cardiovascular diseases,” Hadi said, according to a report by Gulf News.

It has been reported by the Yemen Post that power supply lines and power stations suffered about 33 sabotage attacks which have triggered the shutdown of the national grid and plunged the country into long blackouts.

Yemenis have turned to Twitter to express their frustration and concerns on continuous increase of extended power cuts.

Atiaf Alwazir a researcher, blogger & co-founder of the SupportYemen media campaign tweeted that she has heard the phrase “how can my kids study for their finals w/out any electricity?” repeatedly during the crisis.

Dana Moss, founding member of the Yemen Peace Project posted on Twitter: “Electricity situation here in #yemen definitely the worst we have ever experienced it despite frequent cuts in ‘09, ’10.”

Meanwhile Twitter user @CarvajalF recently tweeted: “Yesterday we had power 'almost' all day...2day, frm 6am to bout 5mins ago.”