ADEN (The Thursday Times) — More than 11,600 migrants from the Horn of Africa landed in Yemen in October, the International Organization for Migration says, even as fighting between government forces and the Houthis spread along the coasts they cross to reach.
The UN migration agency counted 11,677 arrivals last month in its monthly flow monitoring report, down 1.2% from 11,841 in September. Most were Ethiopians.
The agency put the small drop down mainly to the fighting, which disrupted boat movements, particularly around the Bab al-Mandeb strait, and limited how safely its field teams could collect information.
Where they came from
Djibouti was the departure point for 60.6% of the migrants recorded, Somalia for 36%, and Oman for 3.4%, according to the IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix. Of those who sailed from Djibouti, 94% landed in Abyan province and 6% in Taiz.
Men made up 70% of arrivals, women 14%, and children 16%. The October count takes arrivals since January to 145,776.
A deadly crossing
Yemen is the main transit point on what aid agencies call the Eastern Route, which carries people fleeing conflict, poverty, and drought across the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden in the hope of finding work in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.
The crossing is among the most dangerous in the world. In October, at least 139 migrants died and 84 were reported missing when a boat sank off Djibouti, the IOM said at the time.
Those who make it arrive in a country where fighting has displaced more than 340,000 people since August, and where UN agencies and rights groups have repeatedly warned of exploitation, detention, and the danger of moving across front lines.
