Yemen’s gold, a forgotten wealth that UAE companies plunder with local protection

Gold is one of the most important forgotten wealth of Yemen, and the most vulnerable to looting and plundering associated with the fierce attack on the country since 2015, led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Yemen possesses huge reserves of gold and other minerals, which pushed many companies to come to explore for the precious metal, in a country that its visitors describe as raw land, which hoarded by mountains and valleys, representing in their entirety enormous wealth.

All that can liable to turn the equation of his poverty and misery into prosperity and prosperity if used properly.

International companies working in the production and marketing of gold have concluded contracts and agreements with the successive Yemeni governments to conduct surveys in areas rich in gold.

The process of extracting Gold began in Hajjah governorate, and other areas in Hadramout governorate, but it remained under the private ownership of the regime and its close associates, but these deals were in favor of the private property of the ruling regime and those close to it, which made it vulnerable to plunder and tampering, instead of being exploited in optimal ways as sovereign wealth and an important economic resource for the country.

Instead of exploiting Yemen’s huge mineral wealth, previous governments neglected these promising productive sectors, and remained completely dependent on foreign aid, while there was an opportunity to activate this wealth before the Saudi-Emirati intervention in Yemen began in 2015.

Gold mines in Yemen have remained throughout the past decades, the monopoly of the former regime president and his family, including 10 gold mines in Hadramout, through concluding secret agreements with Arab and foreign companies outside official frameworks and media.

The Emirati interest in Yemen’s gold emerged directly and publicly since 2013 when Emirati companies expressed their desire to prospect for gold in the Mudon Valley in Hadramout, Jabal Sabrin in Al-Jawf governorate, and the Maghriba and Sharras regions in Hajjah governorate.

According to the testimonies of Yemeni specialists, the UAE has strengthened its control over gold mines in the Hadramawt governorate in recent years, since May 2019, it has begun to transport and smuggle large quantities of precious stones and metals from the “Hajar” district in Hadramout to “Abu Dhabi” through the port of Dhabba, which it established in Provincial coast.

According to local sources in Hadhramaut, the transported materials are huge quantities of gold that extracted from private mines in the governorate that is dominated by Emirati and local companies linked to it.

The UAE uses Al-Rayyan airport in the Hadramawt governorate as a means of transport for workers in its companies that work in the field of Yemeni gold exploration, as well as the transportation of the quantities extracted from the mines, while it relies on the port of Daba to transport large quantities of materials rich in gold and other precious metals.

The UAE took from its participation in the coalition of aggression against Yemen an opportunity to the uniqueness of the country’s available wealth, including the gold mines, which it quickly sought to exploit in partnership with the so-called “transitional council” and the “Hadrami elite”, which Abu Dhabi formed in the first years of the war, to help it gain control over Ports, airports, and areas rich in oil wealth and gold mines in the southern governorates.

The UAE is taking advantage of the state of chaos and war in the southern Yemeni governorates to plunder Yemen’s oil, gas and mineral wealth, on top of which is gold, fish, and others, after it took control of the most important islands and strategic ports in collusion with tribal leaders of the so-called Transitional Council in exchange for a little money and weapons.

According to international reports, the UAE is the world’s gateway to gold smuggling, as media reports spoke of the flourishing of illegal gold smuggling from African countries to the UAE in billions of dollars.

An analysis conducted by the “Reuters” agency, last April, confirms the smuggling of billions of dollars of gold from Africa every year through the Emirates, which represents a gateway to the markets of Europe, the United States, and others.

Resource: ansarollah