Residents of the Yemeni capital, Sana’a woke up this Wednesday morning to no electricity after tribesmen in the eastern province of Marib chose to target yet another electricity tower, literally crippling the entire power grid.

Ever since 2011 popular uprising and the subsequent breakdown of the state institutions, local tribal lords have taken upon themselves to defy the government and push for financial indemnities and/or various privileges, threatening to unleash their tribes onto state infrastructures should their demands be denied.

In Marib such threats materialized by the incessant targeting of Yemen’s main power plant and electricity grid.

For two years residents in Sana’a have had to adapt to lengthy power outages and resort to alternative means: fuel-powered generators, solar panels and batteries, to cope and fill the electricity vacuum.

So far neither the threat of military retribution nor legal prosecution have deterred the dissident tribes, their men ever more daring in their attacks against the state infrastructures.

If before attacks were restricted to power lines, saboteurs choose now to take down entire power towers, costing the government millions of dollars in un-necessary and un-scheduled repairs; which money could have been used to modernize Yemen’s power grid and offer local communities better coverage.

Officials at the electricity ministry have called on the coalition government to intervene in the matter, demanding that order be restored across all provinces.

Sources at the ministry this Wednesday confirmed that following intense tribal negotiations with Sheikh Ahmed al Ma’afi engineering teams were given permission to proceed in their repair work.

With Yemen eagerly awaiting Eid al-Adha, no one wishes to contemplate another spell of darkness over tribal recriminations.