IOM is appealing for about USD 1 million dollars to help a group of
1,050 Ethiopian migrants stranded in northern Yemen and in a
desperate condition.

The migrants, part of a group of 2,000 Ethiopian irregular
migrants registered and referred to IOM by the UN High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR) in the northern border town of Haradh, are
stranded without food, water and shelter or the means to either
continue their journey or to return home. They represent a fraction
of the growing numbers of migrants in Haradh in a desperate plight
and highlight an emerging humanitarian crisis on Yemen's border
with Saudi Arabia.

"The migrants are in a truly pitiful situation. There is a lot
of hunger among them. They eat whatever scraps they can find," says
IOM's Mario Malanca, Practice Manager for Crisis Mitigation and
Recovery, who has just returned from Haradh. "They sleep in open
spaces, next to the mosque, under trees – in fact, anywhere
they can."

Yemen has long been a major transit route for migrants and
asylum-seekers from the Horn of Africa to the Middle East and
beyond. However, the conflict between Houthi insurgents and
government forces in Yemen's Saada province, and Saudi Arabia's
reinforcement of its border with Yemen in recent months, has led to
a bottleneck of migrants at Haradh, the only open crossing point
with Saudi Arabia.

Although most of the migrants in Haradh are young men from
Ethiopia, with some coming from Somalia and Sudan, there are also
women and children present.

The condition of most of the migrants in and around Haradh is
very poor. After a long and perilous journey by foot and by sea
from Ethiopia, Somalia or Sudan to the Saudi border that has left
them dehydrated and malnourished, many are in very bad health.

The situation has become further complicated by the internal
displacement caused by the conflict between the Houthis and the
government. At least 320,000 internally displaced people are in
camps around Haradh. Although the local population had initially
been receptive to the needs of the migrants, the displacement
crisis has raised tensions between the two groups, mainly over
security concerns.

Between 12 -14 November, IOM helped 610 of the initial group of
2,000 to return to Ethiopia voluntarily. Among this group were 51
minors and 10 women with IOM and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF)
making sure that vulnerable groups such as minors are provided care
and support upon their arrival, including family tracing. Others
returning home from IOM's transit centre in Addis Ababa were
provided USD125 to get to their home villages.

IOM will assist another 340 Ethiopian migrants currently living
out in the open to return home from Yemen next week.

The Organization has been able to help the migrants thanks to
the Rapid Response Transportation Fund (RRTF) – an
IOM-maintained emergency fund which can only be activated through a
direct request to IOM to help especially vulnerable groups of
migrants in need of transport assistance – UNHCR and the
Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC).

But additional funds are being urgently sought to help the
remaining 1,050 referred stranded Ethiopian migrants in Haradh.

"These migrants have suffered enormously and for a long time.
They need to see an end to their plight soon. Assuming that we can
raise the funds to help them, we know there are many others in the
same situation who are at risk of death. We can't help them all.
What is needed beyond this particular emergency operation is a
long-term solution to this irregular migration tragedy from the
Horn of Africa to Yemen," says Mohammed Abdiker, IOM's Director of
Operations and Emergencies.

IOM has been working on raising awareness of the dangers of
irregular migration in Ethiopia among at-risk populations. It is
also working with communities to find local solutions to chronic
unemployment in rural areas which each year pushes tens of
thousands of young Ethiopians to seek employment opportunities
abroad. In a bid to tackle the whole problem stretching from
Ethiopia, Somalia and Yemen, IOM, the UN and other humanitarian
partners, have been carrying out a range of initiatives aimed at
providing information, stabilizing impoverished rural communities
and advocating greater protection for irregular migrants among
governments in the region.

For further information, please contact:

Fawzi Alzioud

IOM Yemen

Tel: +967 1 440 840

E-mail: "mailto:fzioud@iom.int">fzioud@iom.int 

or

Mariolito Malanca

Tel: +41 79 250 0228