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Tens of Thousands of African Migrants Arrived in Yemen in 2023

Forty-three thousand African migrants are stranded in Yemen in miserable conditions. (United Nations)
Forty-three thousand African migrants are stranded in Yemen in miserable conditions. (United Nations)
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Tens of Thousands of African Migrants Arrived in Yemen in 2023

Forty-three thousand African migrants are stranded in Yemen in miserable conditions. (United Nations)
Forty-three thousand African migrants are stranded in Yemen in miserable conditions. (United Nations)

Recent UN data has shown a spike in African migrants arriving in Yemen. Around 200,000 who have arrived in the war-torn country with the aim of illegally entering Gulf countries in search of jobs.

Roughly half arrived during the first seven months of this year.

IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) confirmed the continued flow of thousands of migrants from the Horn of Africa to the shores of Yemen, while the number of those who returned to their country did not exceed 5,000 in 2023.

Out of the 200,000 migrants, approximately 43,000 migrants are stranded across the country.  

Since early 2022, IOM has supported more than 5,700 stranded migrants and victims of trafficking to safely return to their home countries from Yemen. Approximately 300,000 vulnerable migrants have also benefited from humanitarian assistance in Yemen, Somalia, and Djibouti.

So far in 2023, the IOM has assisted 5,631 migrants, including 5,572 Ethiopians, to return home.

The IOM is now appealing for $58.5 million through the Migrant Response Plan (MRP) for the Horn of Africa and Yemen to continue this vital support in the region.

Yemen, a country already ravaged by years of war caused by the Iran-backed Houthi militias, continues to face the harsh reality of displacement.

The first half of 2023 has seen a decrease in the number of people displaced from their homes in Yemen. The DTM recorded more than 21,066 people were forced to flee their homes, seeking safety and shelter elsewhere in the first six months of the year.

This is a half decrease from the same period in 2022 when 42,012 displacements were reported.

The governorate with the highest number of displacements in the first half of 2023 was Marib, with 1,455 households (HHs), followed by Taiz (572 HHs), Hodeidah (416 HHs), Shabwah (409 HHs) and Lahj (341 HHs). The governorates with the lowest number of displacements are Abyan, Dhale, Hadramawt, and al-Mahra.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak met with IOM Regional Director for Middle East and North Africa Othman Belbeisi in the interim capital Aden.

They discussed cooperation between Yemen and the IOM as well as the impact of the increased number of illegal migrants on Yemen’s security and economy. They also discussed the Organizations’ programs in the country.

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Arab World

Red Crescent Says Israeli Troops Shot Gaza Crew ‘with Intent to Kill'

Mourners carry the bodies of 8 Red Crescent emergency responders, recovered in Rafah a week after an Israeli attack, as they are transported for burial from a hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, on Monday, March 31, 2025. (AP)
Mourners carry the bodies of 8 Red Crescent emergency responders, recovered in Rafah a week after an Israeli attack, as they are transported for burial from a hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, on Monday, March 31, 2025. (AP)
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Red Crescent Says Israeli Troops Shot Gaza Crew ‘with Intent to Kill'

Mourners carry the bodies of 8 Red Crescent emergency responders, recovered in Rafah a week after an Israeli attack, as they are transported for burial from a hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, on Monday, March 31, 2025. (AP)
Mourners carry the bodies of 8 Red Crescent emergency responders, recovered in Rafah a week after an Israeli attack, as they are transported for burial from a hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, on Monday, March 31, 2025. (AP)

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said on Monday that 15 medics and rescuers killed by Israeli forces last month in Gaza were shot in the upper body with "intent to kill".

The killings occurred in the southern Gaza Strip on March 23, days into a renewed Israeli offensive in the Hamas-ruled territory, and have since sparked international condemnation.

Younis Al-Khatib, president of the Red Crescent in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, told journalists in Ramallah that an autopsy revealed that "all the martyrs were shot in the upper part of their bodies, with the intent to kill".

He called for an international probe into the killings, which the Israeli military has separately announced it was investigating.

"We call on the world to form an independent and impartial international commission of inquiry into the circumstances of the deliberate killing of the ambulance crews in the Gaza Strip," Khatib said.

The Israeli military has said its soldiers fired on "terrorists" approaching them in "suspicious vehicles", with a spokesman later adding that the vehicles had their lights off.

But a video recovered from the cellphone of one of the slain aid workers, released by the Red Crescent, appears to contradict the Israeli military's account.

The footage shows ambulances travelling with their headlights on and emergency lights flashing.

Eight staff members from the Red Crescent, six from the Gaza civil defense agency and one employee of the UN agency for Palestinian refugee were killed in the incident.

Their bodies were found buried near the site of the shooting in the Tal al-Sultan area of Rafah city, in what the UN humanitarian office OCHA described as a mass grave.

"Why did you hide the bodies?" Khatib said of the Israeli forces involved in the attack.

Hamas has accused Israel of a "deliberate attempt to cover up the crime by burying the victims in mass graves".

- 'War crimes' -

An Israeli military official, briefing journalists over the weekend on condition of anonymity, said troops first fired at a vehicle carrying members of Hamas internal security force, killing two and detaining another.

Two hours later, at 6:00 am on March 23, the soldiers "received a report from the aerial coverage that there is a convoy moving in the dark in a suspicious way towards them" and "opened fire from far", said the official.

"The forces are not trying to hide anything. They thought they had an encounter with terrorists."

According to OCHA the first team, which it said comprised of rescuers and not Hamas fighters, was hit by Israeli forces at dawn.

In the hours that followed, additional rescue and aid teams searching for their colleagues were also struck, OCHA said.

The United Nations' human rights chief Volker Turk said last week the shootings may constitute "war crimes".

Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of using ambulances to transport militants and weapons in Gaza, charges the group has rejected.

On Monday, Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said that the among the 15 killed were six Hamas fighters.

"What were Hamas terrorists doing in ambulances?" he said.

Khatib dismissed the accusation, saying Israel has failed "to prove even once in 50 years that the Red Crescent or its crews carry or use weapons".