The Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies organized a visit by an international press delegation to Yemen’s Shabwa governorate during the second week of November, bringing senior correspondents from North American and European print and broadcast media including Le Monde, the Los Angeles Times, El Pais, Der Spiegel, The Times, and others.
The seven-day trip included meetings with the Shabwa governor, senior security chiefs, members of the local Shabwa authority, local political parties’ representatives, families of detainees, women’s activists, representatives of local NGOs, and Ethiopian and Somali migrants, as well as an evening desert gathering with tribal sheikhs.
In an attempt to get a clearer picture of the COVID-19 situation in the governorate, the journalists visited Ataq General Hospital, as well as the quarantine center and PCR testing facility in the governorate capital.
The international press trip was the third to Yemen organized by the Sana’a Center during the conflict, following visits to Marib governorate in November 2017 and to Hadramawt governorate in September 2018.
Commenting on the visit, Maged al-Madhaji, executive director of the Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies, said: “This visit to Shabwa is part of the Sana’a Center’s commitment to shed light on parts of Yemen where military, security and political developments are usually unseen internationally, or seen through polarized narratives. We are committed to ensuring the world continues to see Yemen, especially as the current war and the pandemic limit the world media’s access to the country.”
For more information on Shabwa governorate, see our latest situation report: Shabwa: Progress Despite Turmoil in a Governorate of Competing Identities.