More than 1,900 Ethiopian migrants stranded near Yemen's border
with Saudi Arabia in desperate conditions and unable to return home
are to be helped by IOM as it resumes a humanitarian evacuation
programme out of this country.

A first group of 275 Ethiopians including 115 minors, 34 women,
15 cases  involving  treatment for gunshot wounds, 
and two cases requiring psychological assistance, were taken from
Haradh to Hodeidah on Yemen's Red Sea coast and flown to Addis
Ababa on Monday 20 June on an IOM-chartered flight.

On arrival, the returnees were taken to an IOM Transit Centre
and provided with accommodation, reintegration assistance and where
necessary, medical and psychosocial support. Unaccompanied minors
will be referred to UNICEF and its partners later today.

The remaining group of Ethiopian migrants wanting to return home
will be assisted through another six evacuations in the next two
weeks.

The IOM operation to help stranded migrants in Yemen, which
began last November, has had to be put on hold a few times due
either to lack of funding or the security situation in the
country.

To date, IOM has assisted 3,756 Ethiopian migrants to return
home from Haradh where the Organization has a centre providing
shelter for the vulnerable migrants, many of whom are hungry,
exhausted or made ill by their long trek to the north of the
country.

Unable to continue their journey north due to tightened border
controls by the Saudi authorities or to return home without any
resources, migrants frequently find themselves in Haradh without
adequate food, shelter and water.

Yemen has long been a major transit point for irregular
migration flows from the Horn of Africa to the Gulf countries and
beyond. The crisis in Yemen has led to large numbers of Ethiopian
migrants and Somali asylum-seekers arriving on its shores as human
smugglers take advantage of the political instability in the
country.

A total of 28,179 Ethiopian irregular migrants have arrived in
Yemen so far this year, in addition to 9,227 Somalis, bringing the
total arrivals for the first half of 2011 to 37,406, according to
the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

Of these, around 12,000 have managed to reach Haradh, where they
are registered and given shelter and assistance by IOM and its
partners.

Meanwhile, IOM has also been working to provide humanitarian
assistance to internally displaced Yemenis despite mounting
violence in the country.

In the southern governorate of Abyan where IOM is the only
humanitarian agency with access, the Organization is registering
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and distributing emergency
assistance following an initial rapid needs assessment.

IOM estimates more than 10,000 people have been displaced within
Abyan from clashes between militants and government forces with the
displaced fleeing largely urban centres to other locations in the
governorate or beyond. About 20,000 people from Abyan are displaced
in the neighbouring governorates of Aden and Lahj.

IOM has so far registered about 2,000 displaced families in
Abyan who are living in schools, public buildings and host
communities. Non-food relief items have been distributed to about
1,500 of the displaced.

Nevertheless, on-going clashes and tenuous access to the most
insecure areas of Abyan are resulting in slow progress in the
registration of the IDPs with violence also hampering the
distribution of humanitarian aid.

Despite these hurdles, IOM plans to expand its humanitarian
assistance in Abyan to address water, health, hygiene and
protection needs of families displaced by the conflict in
coordination with local authorities and humanitarian partners.
Food, water and health are priority needs among the displaced.

For further information, please contact:

Josiah Ogina

IOM Addis Ababa

Tel: +251 11 66 111 33

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

or

Lilian Ambuso

IOM Sana'a

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