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A Sourhern Perspective from South Eye, Regrading The recent Announcement by the World Bank

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South Eye | Report - Exclusive

The recent announcement by the World Bank regarding two new grants totaling $30 million for Yemen—aimed at supporting digital financial infrastructure and sustaining basic education—has raised significant concerns among many in South Yemen people. While the initiative may appear well-intentioned and focused on humanitarian and developmental needs, the language of the statement and its underlying assumptions reflect a troubling disconnect from the realities on the ground.

After more than a decade of conflict, Yemen is no longer a unified, functioning state. The country is effectively divided between two distinct peoples, political and administrative entities: a Houthi-controlled north and a liberated south, where institutions have been rebuilt and stabilized under the leadership of the Southern Transitional Council (STC), the popular mandated southern authority. Despite this well-known reality, the World Bank’s communication continues to treat Yemen as a whole and appears to operate exclusively through a "legitimate government" that show no efficiency and effectiveness, while, in north the self-administration is running independently.

This approach is not only outdated—it risks undermining the very goals the World Bank seeks to achieve. Supporting resilience, sustainability, and access to essential services cannot be done effectively by bypassing or ignoring one of the most stable and cooperative regions in the region. In fact, South Yemen has demonstrated a consistent willingness to engage constructively with international partners, including recent initiatives and dialogues held in Washington, D.C., aimed at broadening cooperation and promoting civil values, efficient governance, and independent transparent southern institutions.

Another critical issue lies in the Bank’s decision to anchor the digital financial initiative through the Central Bank of Yemen in Aden. While the institution is based in the southern capital, its leadership and operational linkages continue to reflect a legacy of influence from northern power centers—some of which have been associated with corruption or political manipulation, whether under the Houthis or Islamist networks (Muslim brotherhood) while both are refused by the southern people. So without clear safeguards, there is a justified concern that funds intended for public benefit could be diverted or misused, reinforcing the very structures that failed the two peoples in the past.

Furthermore, we views this kind of international engagement—with its assumptions of central legitimacy and lack of acknowledgment of southern specifications—as disheartening. It contradicts the practical efforts being made to build a modern, inclusive, and rights-based system of governance in the South. The people of South Yemen have long embraced calls for openness, civic participation, and local empowerment—values that align strongly with those of the international community and southern identity. However, the continued practice of funneling aid through outdated and centralized frameworks sends a conflicting message and diminishes incentives for genuine transformation.

All recognize that international organizations, including the World Bank, must often work within the boundaries of global diplomatic norms. Yet acknowledging the existence and agency of southern institutions is not a political choice—it is a practical necessity if developmental assistance is to be effective and equitable. Inclusive engagement should reflect the self-governance realities and support those who are actively building institutions that can deliver for the people.

As southern media platform we hope that future programs and communications from the World Bank and its partners will take these facts into account and adopt a more nuanced and realistic framework—one that recognizes the complexity of Yemen’s situation, avoids blanket assumptions, and ensures that aid reaches those who need it most, through transparent, inclusive, and locally accountable mechanisms.

Such an approach will not only preserve the credibility and effectiveness of international aid—it will also build bridges of trust and partnership with peoples that are striving every day to emerge from conflict, rebuild with dignity, independence and move toward stable, secure, southern independent state which the people of South always calls for..