Thousands leave as deadline passes

Thousands of illegal immigrants left Djibouti in the past few weeks, ahead of the expiry on Monday of a deadline set by the country's government, a local journalist told IRIN on Tuesday. In late July, Djibouti's Interior Minister, Abdiqadir Du'ale Wa'ays, had warned illegal immigrants to leave by the end of August or face expulsion. He later extended the deadline to 15 September. "Roughly 70,000 people, or about 80 percent of immigrants, appear to have left the country", the journalist said. "Others who opted to remain have been taken to the Aour Aousa camp to be registered. Millicent Mutuli of UNHCR told IRIN that Aour Aousa - set up as a transit centre for 3,000 asylum seeker - now houses 10,000 people. However, other people were hiding in Djibouti city to avoid expulsion, according to reports. "We have reports of refugees undertaking fake marriages, and others buying fake IDs," the journalist told IRIN. A joint police and military operation comprising 5,000 men on Tuesday netted 100 illegal immigrants in the two districts of Ambouli and Gabode in Djibouti City, he said. According to the journalist, the crackdown on illegal immigrants - who mainly come from Somalia, Ethiopia and Yemen - may have been motivated by external pressure. US, French, Spanish and German military forces are based in Djibouti as part of the global fight against terrorism. The French news agency, AFP, quoted a Djibouti official as saying that "coalition forces, as part of their anti-terrorist campaign, are closely monitoring Djibouti's air and sea space, but want Djibouti's forces to be able to prevent people crossing the land borders".