REFUGEES-YEMEN: Calm Waters Bring New Danger

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Nabil Sultan

SANA'A, Sep 28 2005 (IPS) - Yemenis are getting worried now that the sea will be calmer until March. It is the time of the year when thousands of Somali and other African refugees sail in.

They arrive in Yemen as refugees, and look later for further destinations. That can mean Saudi Arabia to the north, and other destinations in the Gulf.

But it does mean that Yemen, with a population of 20 million, has about half a million refugees at the start of a season when many more will come in. A large number will end up in prison, and some will die in the sea, as did 75 Somalis earlier this month. But these dangers do not stop thousands from trying.

The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has appealed for international help to stop the flow. “With the sailing season just starting, we cannot simply stand by for the next several months while desperate people go to their deaths in the Gulf of Aden at the hands of smugglers,” UNHCR official Antonio Guterres told IPS.

“I think that the exploited refugees do not know the real situation here and the dangers on their way to Yemen,” Ismael al-Ghobari from the ministry for human rights told IPS.. “If they know, they will not respond to smugglers.”

Parliament is challenging the government over its failure to curb the inflow of refugees. “We refuse to be a theatre for the inhumane practices of human traffickers,” member of the human rights committee in parliament Shawki al-Qadhi told IPS.

Members of parliament are asking for coastal controls, setting up of more refugee camps closer to coasts, and for moving the centre for receiving refugees from capital Sana’a to Bir Ali and Maifa in Shabwa province along the Gulf of Aden.

UNHCR spokesman Abdul-Malik Abud says about 12,000-14,000 Somalis sail into Yemen every year through Bir Ali and Maifa. “The Yemeni government cannot control the 2,500km coastline,” he said. The UNHCR lacks the funds and resources to tackle the problem, he told IPS.

The refugee inflow is leading to serious economic difficulties for Yemen. “Refugees do really burden the country,” head of the refugees facts inspection committee in parliament Basam Ali al-Shater told IPS. “Refugees compete with Yemenis even in taking on simple crafts and jobs.”

So far close to 300,000 refugees have been registered. But the real number is estimated to be at least twice that.

This year 10,750 refugees have been detained at various locations along the Gulf of Aden coast, according to official figures. Barring about 350 Ethiopians, the refugees are all Somalis.

“It is not a crime to flee hunger and violence for a better life,” Somali refugee Mohammad Hassani told IPS. “International organisations should help us live safely here or wherever.”

Life is difficult for the refugees. Their movements are restricted, and they often cannot get the cards that would give them refugee status, and consequently some rights.

“I still have a UN identity card which expired at the end of 2003, but I could not renew it,” Ethiopian refugee Naeem al-Khairi told IPS. “The UNHCR office asked us to refill asylum application forms and to wait for an interview. But the measures are slow and unfair.”

Members of parliament say the government is delaying preparation of a new law that would limit refugees and organise life better for the refugees already in Yemen.

The increasing refugee inflow has brought new health difficulties through spread of infectious diseases like malaria, AIDS and polio. Several reports have pointed to growing incidence of polio infection in Yemen through refugees. Polio is still widespread in Ethiopia and Somalia.