Wednesday, May 12, 2010
NAIROBI. The United Nations said last Friday that the number of people crossing the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea in the mixed migration flow from the Horn of Africa has nearly halved during the first quarter of the year in comparison with the same period in 2009.
A statement from the UN High Commissioner of Refugees said since the beginning of the year, some 9 400 people reached the shores of Yemen in contrast to nearly 17 000 between January and March 2009.
"New arrivals from Somalia are automatically recognised as refugees in Yemen and the country presently hosts more than 170 000 Somali refugees," the UN refugee agency said in a statement last Friday.
It said the largest drop is registered in the number of the new Somali arrivals.
Some 3 200 Somali refugees arrived in Yemen this year which is approximately a third of their number during the first quarter of 2009, the agency said.
Today, Somali refugees represent every third new arrivals to Yemen.
During the same period of 2009, which was considered one of the relatively calmest periods in Somalia recently, Somali refugees were the overwhelming majority as they made more than half of all of the new arrivals by sea to Yemen.
"However, the drop in the number of Somali arrivals is not driven by improvement of conditions inside Somalia. Many Somali civilians are daily forced to flee their homes," it said.
This year began with some of the worst and deadliest fighting in Somalia since early 2009.
The first three months recorded some of highest displacement rates since January 2009 with an estimated 169 000 people being forced to leave their homes in south central Somalia, particularly from Mogadishu. However, the number of new Somali arrivals in the region remains relatively small.
More than 20 000 Somali refugees fled the neighbouring countries, mostly to Kenya (over 12 000) and Ethiopia (over 6 500) since the beginning of the year.
Most of the displaced Somalis found shelter in the makeshift camps in the Afgooye corridor just outside Mogadishu or remain displaced in within the capital. — Xinhua.