Tragedy in Yemen – 42 migrants drowned off Djibouti

At least 42 migrants lost their lives on Monday off the coast of Djibouti when the boat they had boarded capsized in Yemen, according to a new report published yesterday, Tuesday, by the International Organization for Migration, part of the UN system.

Among the victims were at least 16 children, clarified the IOM, as broadcast by AMPE.

Immigrants from African countries continue to flock to war-torn Yemen in the hope that they will be able to reach Saudi Arabia and other wealthy Gulf kingdoms, whose prosperous economies rely heavily on the jobs provided by millions of poor migrants.

Many try to return when they can not.

At least eight Ethiopian migrants had died in similar circumstances in October trying to reach Djibouti. Twenty had died trying, conversely, to reach Yemen.

A fire at a detention center for illegal immigrants – mostly from Ethiopia – in the Yemeni capital Sanaa has killed at least 45 people in early March and injured about 200 others. Immigrants were protesting their detention conditions.

More than 32,000 migrants, mostly from Ethiopia, remain stranded in Yemen, according to the IOM.

One hundred and sixty were repatriated yesterday “Tuesday” safely, the organization stressed.

The Bab al-Madeb Strait, which separates Djibouti from Yemen, is a key sea route for international trade and a theater for human trafficking.

“The living conditions of the displaced migrants in Yemen have become so tragic that many of them feel they have no choice but to turn to traffickers again to return to their homes,” said Jeffrey Leibovich, IOM’s director of emergency operations. .

At least 11,000 migrants have moved from the Horn of Africa to Yemen since May 2020, or vice versa, making “dangerous voyages” that facilitate traffickers without any moral hesitation, according to the International Organization for Migration. Many are stranded in the world’s poorest Arab country, which has been embroiled in an armed conflict since 2014 that the United Nations says is causing the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.

The photo is on file

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