Record migration to Yemen despite instability

GENEVA: A record 103,000 Ethiopians and Somalis survived perilous trips across the Gulf of Aden to reach Yemen in 2011, double the number the previous year, the UN refugee agency said on Friday, despite violent upheaval in the impoverished Arab state.

It said more than 130 drowned during the crossings, in which migrants are often subjected to physical and sexual violence as well as extortion demands by traffickers. Three Ethiopians were killed by smugglers last week as they tried to escape.

“Most of the new arrivals reach Yemen’s shores in desperate condition — dehydrated, malnourished and often in shock,” Adrian Edwards, spokesman of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told a news briefing. Three out of every four arrivals were Ethiopians, mostly migrants seeking economic opportunities in Yemen or beyond, he said. “Ethiopian migrants avoid contact with the authorities as they look for ways to reach other Gulf states,” he said.