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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

Lebanon Security Source Says Hezbollah Official Targeted in Beirut Strike

Civil defense members work as Lebanese army soldiers stand guard at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut's Basta neighbourhood, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, Lebanon November 23, 2024. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
Civil defense members work as Lebanese army soldiers stand guard at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut's Basta neighbourhood, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, Lebanon November 23, 2024. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
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Lebanon Security Source Says Hezbollah Official Targeted in Beirut Strike

Civil defense members work as Lebanese army soldiers stand guard at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut's Basta neighbourhood, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, Lebanon November 23, 2024. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
Civil defense members work as Lebanese army soldiers stand guard at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut's Basta neighbourhood, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, Lebanon November 23, 2024. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

A Lebanese security source said the target of a deadly Israeli airstrike on central Beirut early Saturday was a senior Hezbollah official, adding it was unclear whether he was killed.

"The Israeli strike on Basta targeted a leading Hezbollah figure," the security official told AFP without naming the figure, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

The early morning airstrike has killed at least 11 people and injured 63, according to authorities, and had brought down an eight-storey building nearby, in the second such attack on the working-class neighbourhood of Basta in as many months.

"The strike was so strong it felt like the building was about to fall on our heads," said Samir, 60, who lives with his family in a building facing the one that was hit.

"It felt like they had targeted my house," he said, asking to be identified by only his first name because of security concerns.

There had been no evacuation warning issued by the Israeli military for the Basta area.

After the strike, Samir fled his home in the middle of the night with his wife and two children, aged 14 and just three.

On Saturday morning, dumbstruck residents watched as an excavator cleared the wreckage of the razed building and rescue efforts continued, with nearby buildings also damaged in the attack, AFP journalists reported.

The densely packed district has welcomed people displaced from traditional Hezbollah bastions in Lebanon's east, south and southern Beirut, after Israel intensified its air campaign on September 23, later sending in ground troops.

"We saw two dead people on the ground... The children started crying and their mother cried even more," Samir told AFP, reporting minor damage to his home.

Since last Sunday, four deadly Israeli strikes have hit central Beirut, including one that killed Hezbollah spokesman Mohammed Afif.

Residents across the city and its outskirts awoke at 0400 (0200 GMT) on Saturday to loud explosions and the smell of gunpowder in the air.

"It was the first time I've woken up screaming in terror," said Salah, a 35-year-old father of two who lives in the same street as the building that was targeted.

"Words can't express the fear that gripped me," he said.

Saturday's strikes were the second time the Basta district had been targeted since war broke out, after deadly twin strikes early in October hit the area and the Nweiri neighbourhood.

Last month's attacks killed 22 people and had targeted Hezbollah security chief Wafiq Safa, who made it out alive, a source close to the group told AFP.

Salah said his wife and children had been in the northern city of Tripoli, about 70 kilometres away (45 miles), but that he had to stay in the capital because of work.

His family had been due to return this weekend because their school reopens on Monday, but now he has decided against it following the attack.

"I miss them. Every day they ask me: 'Dad, when are we coming home?'" he said.

Lebanon's health ministry says that more than 3,650 people have been killed since October 2023, after Hezbollah initiated exchanges of fire with Israel in solidarity with its Iran-backed ally Hamas over the Gaza war.

However, most of the deaths in Lebanon have been since September this year.

Despite the trauma caused by Saturday's strike, Samir said he and his family had no choice but to return home.

"Where else would I go?" he asked.

"All my relatives and siblings have been displaced from Beirut's southern suburbs and from the south."