Egyptian-Libyan discussions to regulate employment and the Houthis imposed new increases in fuel prices and restrictions on the western coast

The file of Egyptians working in Libya dominated the discussions of the labor ministers of the two countries, which focused on organizing their conditions and enhancing cooperation in the fields of employment and rehabilitation, in addition to supporting the electronic link between the “Wafed” platform and the electronic visa platform, to facilitate their entry and movement procedures between the two countries.

The Minister of Labor and Rehabilitation in the interim “National Unity” government, Ali Al-Abed, met his Egyptian counterpart, Hassan Al-Raddad, on the sidelines of the fifty-second session of the Arab Labor Conference, which was hosted by the Egyptian capital, Cairo, yesterday, Monday.

The meeting touched on regulating the conditions of Egyptian workers in Libya, in accordance with applicable procedures and regulations, which contributes to regulating the labor market and enhancing the flow of procedures between the two countries.

The Ministry of Labor in the “National Unity” government said that the two sides’ discussions addressed “the importance of activating the joint committees between Libya and Egypt, and enhancing coordination in files of common interest, in addition to supporting the electronic link between the (Wafed) platform and the electronic visa platform, which contributes to developing procedures and organizing the movement of workers.”

The two ministers stressed their keenness to “strengthen joint cooperation and develop coordination mechanisms in the fields of work, employment and rehabilitation, in a way that serves the common interests between Libya and Egypt.”

The Egyptian Ministry of Labor explained that the discussions dealt with a number of files of common interest in the fields of work, employment, rehabilitation, and regulating the conditions of Egyptian workers in Libya.

The Libyan Ministry of Labor and Rehabilitation had previously launched the “Wafed” digital platform to register foreign workers, and said at the time that this measure aims to “regulate the labor market and enhance economic stability in Libya.”

Last June, the “National Unity” government announced the official activation of the “Wafed” and “E-VISA LIBYA” systems, as the approved national platform for managing electronic visas and regulating the entry and residence of foreigners in Libya, with the launch of the second phase of the project.

There are no official figures in Libya about the number of foreign workers, due to the political division, the existence of two governments, the expansion of smuggling operations, and the leakage of many expatriates into the labor market informally, but Al-Abed stated at the end of November 2024 that the number of foreign workers in Libya exceeded two million people.

The government said that the Minister of State for Prime Minister and Council of Ministers Affairs, Mohammed bin Ghalboun, issued a circular requiring the official start of operating the two systems, within the framework of implementing the government’s vision to develop government services and enhance the path of digital transformation.

During the joint supreme committee meeting, in the presence of Abdel Hamid Dabaiba, Prime Minister of the “unity” government, and Mustafa Madbouly, Prime Minister of the Egyptian Government, Egypt and Libya signed 13 joint agreements in September 2021, which included the fields of transportation, electricity, and oil, in addition to infrastructure, youth, sports, and social insurance.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the Libyan Minister of Labor and Rehabilitation congratulated his Egyptian counterpart on his election as head of the government team in the fifty-second session of the Arab Labor Conference, stressing Libya’s keenness to “continue developing joint cooperation relations with Egypt in various fields of work, employment and rehabilitation.”

The consortium of Egyptian companies, consisting of "Orascom", "Hassan Allam" and "Pioneers of Modern Engineering", is implementing large projects in the capital, Tripoli, including the third ring road project, whose implementation cost is 4.263 billion dinars, in addition to the implementation of the Ghat-Ubari road project in southwestern Libya.

(The dollar is equal to 6.33 dinars in the official market), and 9.44 in the parallel market.

The Houthi group imposed a new increase in the prices of oil derivatives in areas under its control, thereby raising the cost of living for millions of residents who are facing widespread economic deterioration, a decline in sources of income, and the interruption of salaries.

The oil company controlled by the group in Sanaa decided to raise the price of a liter of gasoline to about one dollar (525 Yemeni riyals), bringing the value of a 20-liter can to about 19.6 dollars (10,500 riyals), compared to about 17.8 dollars (9,500 riyals) previously.

It also raised the price of diesel to about 1.07 dollars per liter (575 riyals), so that the plate was sold at the new price for about 21.5 dollars (11 thousand and 500 riyals), instead of about 19.6 dollars (10 thousand and 500 riyals), according to a fixed exchange rate for the dollar at 535 riyals that the group forcefully imposes on money changers, and it differs from the Yemeni riyal in the liberated Yemeni areas.

The increase comes at a time when Yemeni families in Houthi-controlled areas are suffering from accumulated pressures. As a result of the interruption of salaries, the decline in job opportunities, and the deterioration of services, in addition to the taxes and levies imposed by the group on citizens and commercial activities.

There are fears among residents that the rise in fuel prices will lead to a new wave of high prices, given the link between transportation costs and the prices of goods and services, especially food and basic needs.

Amin, a resident of the suburbs of Sanaa, said that the increase in fuel prices does not only affect car owners, “but rather quickly affects transportation fees and the prices of food and services.”

He added: “My salary is not enough for basic needs, and every increase in the price of fuel means that we will pay more for transportation and food.” The situation has become very difficult for low-income families.”

Transportation burdens

Taxi drivers, in turn, face mounting pressure; They find themselves faced with the choice of either raising transportation fees or bearing higher operating costs.

One of the taxi drivers in the kidnapped Yemeni capital said that raising the price of gasoline puts drivers before “two difficult choices,” explaining: “If we raise the fare; The citizen cannot pay, and if we keep it as it is, the income will not cover the cost of fuel and maintenance.”

In the city of Dhamar, a daily wage worker said that the rise in the prices of oil derivatives is now being reflected in various details of daily life. As a result of the transportation of goods and services being linked to the cost of fuel.

He added that his family had recently been forced to reduce their purchases of basic materials, saying: “Everything rises with the rise in fuel, while job opportunities are non-existent, and this leaves us facing a difficult equation.”

In Ibb Governorate, a family mother said that the successive increases in fuel prices exacerbated the burden of living, in light of stable incomes and high costs of food and transportation.

She added: “We no longer know how we will manage our daily needs.” The higher the price of fuel; The prices of transportation and basic materials increased, while family income did not change.

Monopoly and revenues

Yemeni sources accuse the Houthi group of exploiting its control over the oil derivatives market to achieve large revenues, through monopolizing the import, distribution and sale of fuel in areas under its influence, in addition to revenues resulting from taxes and levies imposed on the population and commercial activities.

The sources estimate that the group earns millions of dollars daily from trading in oil derivatives, in addition to other resources, while accusing it of directing part of these revenues to finance its military activities and enhance its capabilities in war.

Local reports indicate that the group is causing repeated fuel crises by preventing the entry of shipments of petroleum derivatives coming from areas under the control of the Yemeni government, despite their low cost compared to fuel imported through the port of Hodeidah, according to these reports.

During the past years, the Houthis imposed more than 9 price increases on oil derivatives in Sanaa and the rest of the areas under their control. Which led to a continuous rise in fuel prices, and was reflected in transportation costs and the prices of goods and services, amid a worsening economic and living deterioration.

The regions of the western coast of Yemen, especially the districts of Hays and Al-Mukha and their surroundings, are facing a wide wave of livelihood restrictions after the recent control of the Houthi group, which hastened to transfer its system to collect resources, impose levies and forced royalties, banking procedures, and a currency war with the legitimate government, and limited agricultural and commercial activities have become sources of funding for its field activities.

Houthi measures were not limited to levies and royalties; It headed directly towards the banking system through its monetary arm in Sana'a, where it began imposing a complete ban on the circulation of the new cash edition of the national currency issued by the Central Bank in Aden, and directed it to begin replacing it with old, dilapidated editions or alternative metal denominations that were new and approved by it.

After taking control of the city of Mocha, the group transferred the contents of the Central Bank building there to an unknown destination, in an operation that local sources in the city described as organized looting.

The headquarters of the Central Bank of Yemen branch in the city was reopened in September last year, after its activity stopped for nearly 10 years due to the Houthi coup and the war imposed by the group.

Informed local sources in the city revealed the group’s intention to launch unfair currency exchange mechanisms without fair banking coverage. Which contributed to the paralysis of commercial activity, which was already affected by military operations and the group’s control. This caused a mass cessation of banking activities and the disappearance of the value of real savings within days.

This, according to economists, would deepen the exchange rate divide and move the acute banking gap to the heart of West Coast communities.

Urgent levies

Signs of livelihood restrictions began in the districts of southern Hodeidah Governorate and western Taiz Governorate, immediately after the group took control of the region. The opening of the offices of the so-called “General Authority for Zakat” was its first field step to collect taxes and impose a new financial reality. The matter did not stop at confiscating government buildings and turning them into compulsory collection centers, but rather extended to include the militarization of vital roads linking villages and towns.

Local sources reported that the group, once it took control, created a system of “electronic scales” and military checkpoints at the entrances leading to local markets, to weigh farmers’ crops of vegetables, fruits, and qat, and impose unfair financial fees and in-kind rates before allowing them to be sold and traded. This led to a significant increase in the prices of basic food commodities and the inability of the population to purchase.

Field commanders sent letters to notables and notables of the areas they had recently brought under their control, urging them to expedite the payment of periodic sums to support “convoys to supply the fronts and fighters,” and to speed up their collection from the population, in addition to similar letters to merchants and large farm owners.

The group intends to adopt a dual internal customs system that imposes fees on the movement of goods coming from the liberated governorates.

It included directives from Houthi leaders to merchants, notables, and owners of large farms to provide financial and in-kind donations of livestock and foodstuffs, and obligated notables to count the families in their areas and provide complete data about them to estimate the donations that would be approved based on the number of members of each family.

Local sources revealed that the group obligated restaurants and shops to provide meals and food supplies to its fighters, security personnel, and militants, amid direct threats of harsh punishments and confiscation if their requests were ignored.

Cost of control

Al-Sharq Al-Awsat sources say that, in the face of widespread popular discontent over these measures, the Houthi leaders threatened to respond to the complaints of merchants and farm owners by facing charges of treason, considering that this money required to be collected is compulsory compensation for what they called “liberating them” from the authority of the legitimate government, and they asked the residents to show gratitude and thanks under the pretext of ridding them of “the American and Israeli occupation,” according to the group’s account and narrative.

Recent human rights reports issued by local organizations reflect the scale of the horrific humanitarian and economic catastrophe in the region. According to a report by the Yemeni Network for Rights and Freedoms, about 356 government facilities and private homes were stormed and raided, and they were completely or partially looted, and the material assets and cash inside them were confiscated.

The military confiscation operations included about 30 private cars and 17 motorcycles, in addition to the looting of equipment and vehicles belonging to the United Nations Humanitarian Center in Mokha. This caused a complete paralysis of the relief movement and local trade, depriving those in need of emergency aid.

The Yemeni Women's Empowerment Foundation documented in a report, a few days ago, more than 18 incidents of confiscation of money and property and the imposition of direct taxes during the Houthis' pursuit of areas in the south of Hodeidah Governorate and the west of Taiz Governorate.

The majority of the population of the Yemeni coast overlooking the Red Sea depends on seasonal agriculture and traditional fishing, which are economic activities with limited and intermittent income, and the imposition of forced taxes and war shocks severely harm them.

The region is witnessing a large-scale mass exodus following recent military developments, and official statistics issued by the Executive Unit for Displaced Persons’ Camps recorded the displacement of no less than 823 families (including more than 5,671 individuals) from the Al-Mokha District alone towards the areas controlled by the legitimate government in Taiz and the southern governorates.

For its part, the Yemeni Network for Rights and Freedoms expects that the total number of displaced and forcibly displaced families due to these arbitrary economic and security measures exceeds 2,300 families throughout the regions of the West Coast. This heralds a worsening humanitarian catastrophe and a severe refugee crisis that requires urgent intervention from the international community and UN organizations.