Migrants Beaten To Death On Ships To Yemen - U.N.
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GENEVA, Sept 22, 2006 – Dozens of African migrants crossing the Gulf of Aden to Yemen died this month, many after smugglers beat them and threw them overboard, sometimes just for requesting water, the U.N. refugee agency said on Friday.
Ron Redmond, spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said 35 people had died making the perilous journey in overcrowded boats since the beginning of September, and 53 have been reported missing.
Some 2,143 people from Somalia, Ethiopia and Sudan made it to shore in Yemen, Redmond said. Survivors said some of their fellow passengers were beaten to death with wooden and steel clubs, and others died when the rickety vessels capsized.
"Upon departure, the smugglers confiscated water and food, including dates," Redmond said, citing witness reports from a recent sailing from Somalia to Yemen. "Survivors said people on the boats were beaten and thrown overboard by smugglers just for requesting water."
Last year about 100 people a day arrived in Yemen between September and April, a period UNHCR calls "smuggling season" in the Gulf of Aden, when calmer weather allows more crossings.
Most Somalis and Ethiopians cite insecurity, drought and economic hardship as reasons for risking their lives to reach Yemen, with many intending to leave Yemen to seek jobs in the richer Arab states of the Gulf.
There are more than 88,000 registered refugees in Yemen, of whom 84,000 are Somalis, Redmond said.
Source: Reuters
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