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SHABWA, March 5 — The number of illegal immigrants who entered Yemen as refugees from the Horn of Africa has nearly tripled, increasing to 8,731 in the first two months of 2008 compared to the same period last year, said Ron Redmond, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson in Geneva. He noted that a total of 182 refugee-carrying boats arrived on Yemen's coast so far this year. The majority of the refugees entering Yemen are from Somalia.The increase in arrivals this year was partly due to the use of new smuggling routes. "By the end of last year, the smugglers started taking people, mostly Somalis, across the Red Sea from Djibouti, said Redmond. "In 2007, an estimated 700 Somalis took the Djibouti route."
Since the beginning of the year, smugglers began using faster boats in order to avoid the Yemeni coast guard.The prices the refugees pay to smugglers differs depending on the speed of the boat.
“People who are traveling on small, fast boats have to pay an average of US $130 to US $150,” said Redmond.
In contrast, those traveling on larger and more crowded vessels pay between US $50 and US $70, and US $20 for children, said Sharifa Mohammed Ali, 19, a Somali refugee in Al-Kharaz camp in Lahj, who came to Yemen via a smuggler's boat.
Al-Kharaz Refugee Camp has approximately 9,000 refugees – most of them Somalis – with smaller numbers of Ethiopians and Kenyans.
The journey from Somalia to Yemen can take 12 to 36 hours, depending on the weather, knowledge of the routes, sea conditions and the speed of the boat. If smugglers meet patrol boats or see the coast guard en route, they either throw their passengers overboard or attempt to take an alternative route, often adding many hours to the voyage.
The armed smugglers are often brutal. Redmond gave an example from last month when eight boats carrying more than 500 passengers arrived at five different arrival points in Yemen. Smugglers on two of the boats were carrying a total of 302 people. The smugglers forced the passengers to disembark in deep and rough waters, which caused many of the passengers to drown.
A total of 182 people made it to shore, while 36 bodies were found and 84 remain missing. The new Somali arrivals told the staff at Al-Mayfa’a, a refugee reception center run by the UNHCR in the Shawba governate, that the smugglers severely beat the passengers onboard, stole their possessions and raped female refugees. One traumatized person jumped overboard and drowned, according to Al-Mayfa'a's staff.
Redmond added that approximately 113 refugees have drowned while making the perilous voyage across the Gulf of Aden into Yemen so far this year. There are at least 214 others still missing, though they are presumed to be dead.
The UNHCR called for increased action to save lives in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea. From 2007 to until now, the UNHCR stepped up its work in Yemen under a US $7 million operation that includes extra staff, more assistance, additional shelters for refugees, and training programs for coast guard personnel and other officials. These programs will be expanded throughout this year.
“Since the civil war began in Somalia in 1991, between 2,500 and 3,000 Somalis – sometimes even more – leave their country every month seeking refuge in other countries, particularly Yemen,” noted Adel Jasmin, acting representative of the UNHCR in Yemen for the past three years. “This is why we wanted to help the Yemeni government and share this responsibility together.”
According to UNHCR statistics, from 2006 to 2007 around 46,000 refugees, mainly Somalis, have entered Yemen from the Horn of Africa.
The UNHCR is also expanding its presence along the remote, 300 kilometer-long coastline with the opening of two additional field offices. The refugee agency is working closely with aid organizations such as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which has mobile clinics that can work along the coast.
According to Jihan Bawazeer, field coordinator for Al-Mayfa’a, the center took in nearly 115,000 Somalis from 1999 through 2007. In just the first two months of this year alone, the facility has already received nearly 1,300 arrivals.
Another three people died in boat's hull due to asphyxiation and dehydration. Additionally, some of the refugees had been stabbed by smugglers or cut by rocks as they swam their way to the Yemeni coast. The Al-Mayfa’a center can accommodate between 800 and 1,000 refugees at a time, and they are allowed to remain at the center for 24 hours up to three days. Refugees must then register to go to Al-Kharaz Refugee Camp in Lahj governorate. Those who don’t are free to leave the center and live elsewhere.
Ethiopians are the second largest group to come through the center, with 11,716 arrivals from 1999 through 2007, and 417 arrivals so far this year. Additionally, Bawazeer noted that the facility also has assisted refugees from other countries such as Eritrea, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sudan and Tanzania.
SOURCE: Yemen Times, March 6, 2008