In Yemen’s southern port city of Aden, Naser Hamid sits under a palm tree with other Ethiopian refugees to escape the scorching heat of summer. His only concern now is to go back to the country he was so eager to leave behind three years ago.
“All I am thinking of is to return to Ethiopia, my life here has been very miserable,” Naser, 26, told The National.
Thousands of Ethiopian migrants, predominantly from the Muslim Oromo ethnic group, are smuggled to Yemen every year, risking their lives in packed small fishing boats to reach Saudi Arabia.
Such dangerous journeys from the Horn of Africa to Yemen could take days by sea. Hundreds of migrants have lost their lives taking the perilous journey.
“We spent two days in the sea. There were more than 120 migrants on a small boat, tightly packed that we had to sit on each other. It was such a horrible journey,” Naser said.
Despite the continuing conflict, Yemen continues to be a transit point for migrants travelling to Saudi Arabia in search of better employment opportunities, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Yemen said.
“They rely on smuggling networks that span from Somalia to Ethiopia, Djibouti, Yemen and other Gulf countries to facilitate their journeys. Some migrants fall into the hands of traffickers and face exploitation upon arrival in Yemen,” Angela Wells, Media and Communications Officer at IOM-Yemen told The National.
About 32,000 African migrants have been stranded in Yemen because of war and the mobility restrictions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the IOM said.
“Yemen is not the final destination for the majority, yet nearly 32,000 migrants have become stranded for months in dire conditions at urban transit hubs in Aden, Shabwa, Al Bayda, Mar’ib, Sana’a and Sadah governorates,” Ms Wells said.
“The Covid-19 restrictions have undermined their travel plans to Saudi Arabia,” she added.
Arriving in Aden, Naser was slapped by reality. His thorny road to the promised land had only left him abandoned without any resources in a war-torn and famine-struck country.
“I arrived in Yemen three years ago to cross the border to Saudi Arabia and work there, but all our attempts were doomed to failure because of the war and the pandemic,” he said.
“We have been sleeping in the street, we have no food, no shelter. Sometimes we get lucky to eat leftovers from public restaurants. At other times we starve,” Naser said.
The majority of the African migrants in Yemen live in dire conditions, with many of them killed en route or exposed to violence and mistreatment. Women and children remain the most vulnerable.
“Women and children in particular face significant risks; many are held in smugglers yards and dens across the country and are subjected to physical violence and abuses,” Ms Wells said
A study by the IOM between 2019 to 2020 found that more than 80 per cent of female migrants experience at least one form of gender-based violence in Yemen, usually at the hands of traffickers and smugglers.
As part of its efforts to help the migrants stranded in Yemen, the IOM has operated many repatriation flights to help thousands of Ethiopian migrants in Yemen return home.
Since March 2021, the IOM has operated five repatriation flights through its Voluntary Humanitarian Return (VHR) programme, and it aims to repatriate about 6,000 Ethiopian migrants who are currently stranded in Yemen, waiting to return home on VHR flights.
“We require urgent funding to meet this need,” Ms Wells said.
match info
Chelsea 2
Willian (13'), Ross Barkley (64')
Liverpool 0
The years Ramadan fell in May
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- Nia Jax won a battle royal, eliminating Ember Moon last to win
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ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
Profile of Bitex UAE
Date of launch: November 2018
Founder: Monark Modi
Based: Business Bay, Dubai
Sector: Financial services
Size: Eight employees
Investors: Self-funded to date with $1m of personal savings
The specs
Engine: 5.0-litre V8
Power: 480hp at 7,250rpm
Torque: 566Nm at 4,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: L/100km
Price: Dh306,495
On sale: now
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Akeed
Based: Muscat
Launch year: 2018
Number of employees: 40
Sector: Online food delivery
Funding: Raised $3.2m since inception
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
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Day 1
Toss: India, chose to bat
India (1st innings): 215-2 (89 ov)
Agarwal 76, Pujara 68 not out; Cummins 2-40
Why seagrass matters
- Carbon sink: Seagrass sequesters carbon up to 35X faster than tropical rainforests
- Marine nursery: Crucial habitat for juvenile fish, crustations, and invertebrates
- Biodiversity: Support species like sea turtles, dugongs, and seabirds
- Coastal protection: Reduce erosion and improve water quality
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Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
The bio
Job: Coder, website designer and chief executive, Trinet solutions
School: Year 8 pupil at Elite English School in Abu Hail, Deira
Role Models: Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk
Dream City: San Francisco
Hometown: Dubai
City of birth: Thiruvilla, Kerala