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An increasing number of Somalis, fleeing drought and insecurity, are making their way to Yemen aboard overcrowded, rickety boats, the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, said.
At the same time, the number of Somalis arriving in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, or crossing into Kenya is dropping, UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards told journalists in Geneva.
More than 3,700 Somali refugees have reached Yemen’s coast so far this month, the highest arrival rate this year. “It is a testament to the refugees’ desperation that they have chosen to flee to Yemen, which is itself affected by serious unrest,” said Edwards. “They flee on what are often unseaworthy and overcrowded boats. Many do not survive the dangerous crossing.”
The number of Somalis arriving in Mogadishu has dropped to an estimated 200 a day, from more than 1,000 a day last month. At Kenya’s Dadaab camp complex, the pace of arrivals has slowed to 1,000-1,200 people a day from 1,500 previously, according to UNHCR.
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