Among the cultural institutions being used as a shelter is Zinjibar Museum, the province’s main museum. Looted twice in 2012, and virtually empty of artefacts since then, today it houses around 60 people, who share the museum’s 15 rooms and its second-floor toilet.

Before the conflict, Zinjibar Museum housed statues, manuscripts and weapons, among other objects assembled to illustrate the governorate’s history. Speaking with the Yemen Times, Mohammed Fadaq, a soldier in Abyan, said that investigations into the looting are ongoing, but finding those responsible is difficult “due to a lack of information and the chaos that followed after the conflict, and the current state of Abyan and the south in general”.