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YEMEN-SOMALIA: Bracing for a fresh influx of Somali refugees
01 Sep 2009 08:39:50 GMT
 Source: IRIN

Background

•  Somalia in turmoil

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SANAA, 1 September 2009 (IRIN) - The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is expecting a sharp increase in the number of Somalis seeking refuge in Yemen in the coming weeks due to a worsening security situation in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

"We are aware that most of those who fled to Bosasso [Somali port city] are waiting for the first opportunity offered by smugglers to take the perilous journey across the Gulf of Aden," said Rocco Nuri, external relations officer for UNHCR in Aden, Yemen. "We are expecting a surge in landings as soon as weather conditions improve."

The Yemeni government has voiced concern over the potential influx of new asylum-seekers; there are already over 150,000 registered Somali refugees and many more unregistered Somali asylum-seekers and economic migrants living in the country.

The government predicts the number of Somali refugees entering Yemen in 2009 to be double the more than 33,000 registered arrivals in 2008.

Yemen's Ministry of Foreign Affairs told IRIN that it estimates there are as many as 700,000 Somalis living in Yemen (population 23 million), many as economic migrants. The ministry said most Somalis in Yemen subsist on aid from international agencies or NGOs, or take on menial work in order to survive.

The poorest country in the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen is increasingly feeling the strain of this influx of African refugees. It has a 35 percent unemployment rate and its own domestic political problems: The government is fighting a rebel group in the north and a secessionist movement in the south.

In addition, among Arab countries Yemen already has the second highest percentage of population without access to safe water (after Comoros) - with 33 percent, according to a UN Development Programme (UNDP) study in 2007.

More assistance needed

According to Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Muthana, Yemen needs more assistance from the international community to shoulder the burden of violence in Mogadishu, which is driving more and more Somalis to Yemen's shores.

"There is cooperation between Yemen and the international community. However, it's not enough," he told IRIN.

"It's not only feeding the Somalis who are coming, but they need work, they need health and social services. Yemen cannot afford these people. There are limitations in that respect. That's why Yemen has - from the very beginning - said the problem is the instability in Somalia. It's the situation in Somalia that needs to be addressed first," Muthan said.

UNHCR in Yemen has increased its capacity to handle the anticipated arrival of 20,000 extra refugees from Somalia this year. It is lobbying for policy change on migration issues, raising human rights awareness, and supporting the establishment of a Migration and Refugee Studies Centre at Sanaa University.

"Coordination and information-sharing at any level remain cornerstones for addressing, in a timely and effective manner, the needs of asylum-seekers and refugees," the UNHCR'S Nuri said.

lk/ed/cb

© IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.IRINnews.org


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