Smugglers of Somalis take new sea routes

Smugglers carrying asylum seekers in fishing boats from Somalia have started taking new routes across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen as a result of the increased security patrols along the Yemeni coast, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said on Wednesday.

The refugee agency said that last weekend a boat with 130 people on board had arrived in the region of Jebel-Reidah, about 100km south-east of Mayfa’a, where there is a reception centre for refugees.

According to the UNHCR, seven people drowned after being forced to disembark offshore in deep water. Villagers who live close to the shore buried the bodies and the survivors were transferred to Mayfa’a Reception Centre where they are being looked after by UNHCR and local NGOs.

At the end of last week, 136 Somalis and 96 Ethiopians were picked up by Aden security and immigration authorities in Imran, a fishing town near Aden. According to the security officials, the new arrivals, who included a number of women and children, were found on Al-Azizyia Island in the Red Sea and were transferred by coastal guards to Imran.

They take the boats, which are not safe enough for travelling. They spend three to four days at sea with little or no food or a change of clothes.

UNHCR said that this indicated that smugglers have started taking new routes to Yemen as a result of the increased security along the Yemeni coast and the vigilance of coastal guards who tried last December to arrest smugglers. The new drop-off point near Aden is hundreds of kilometres away from Mayfa’a Reception Centre. The journey from Somalia to Aden takes three days, instead of the usual 48-hour voyage.

Mohammed Ali Hersi, leader of the Somali community in Sana’a, told IRIN that three boats were involved in this incident. “The Somalis were taken to Al-Khouraf camp, some 120km west of Aden, while the Ethiopians were handed over to the immigration department for deportation.”

“The Al-Khouraf camp is in the desert and the situation of the new arrivals there is a miserable one because the camp was not set up to be a permanent place for living,” he added.

UNHCR is assisting the arrivals at the camp in coordination with four other international and local organisations, Hersi said.

Hersi added that the journey from Somalia to Yemen “was a journey of hardships that normally starts from Bossaso where the migrants stay for two to three months waiting for a boat. Then they take the boats, which are not safe enough for travelling. They spend three to four days at sea with little or no food or a change of clothes.

“In the boats, they are exposed to the burning sun. When they get near the Yemeni coast, the smugglers throw them in the sea for them to swim ashore. Sometimes women pay strong male migrants to carry them and their children ashore.”

Somalis reaching Yemen get automatic refugee status because many are fleeing a violent conflict, though not all apply for it. There are currently more than 88,000 registered refugees in Yemen, of whom 84,000 are Somalis. More than 25,800 people have been recorded arriving in Yemen from Somalia this year.

Ethiopians are not automatically considered refugees, but UNHCR says they can have their cases heard individually.

The voyage across the Gulf of Aden’s shark-infested waters is treacherous. At least 330 people have died making the journey in 2006, while more than 300 remain missing, the refugee agency said.

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Read the testimonies of two Somalis who fled to Yemen by sea:

Afrah Ahmed "I don't know where the suffering ends"
Ismael Mahmud Abdille "I live in a situation worse than before"