Yemen security forces arrest 29 Ethiopian migrants

[News_Editor]

Yemen security forces arrest 29 Ethiopian migrants

2010-10-19 07:37:46 GMT+7 (ICT)

SANAA, YEMEN (BNO NEWS) -- Yemen Security Forces on Monday arrested 29 Ethiopian migrants who entered the Asian country illegally, AfricaNews reported.

Thirteen of the arrests were made at the Mareb governance. The other seven ones where arrested in Saada governance. The defendants were trying to sneak into Saudi Arabia. The remaining seven Ethiopians were held in the Lahj province

The migrants are reportedly aged between 21 and 40 years of age. They were sent to the Emigration and Passports Authority which will take the requisite legal procedures.

At the same time, at least 146 Somali refugees who escaped from the ongoing war in Somalia arrived at a local Camp in Yemen. Among the refugees there are 29 women, 12 children and all of them arrived at Somali refugees in Kharaz camp.

The Interior Ministry said that the refugees come from the Shabwa, Abyan and Taiz governorates. Ethiopian nationals are increasingly illegally traveling to other countries, mainly to avoid poverty and conflicts.

The Yemen Immigration Department has deported over 700 Ethiopian nationals since the beginning of the year. Hundreds of them have died while trying to cross the Gulf of Aden.

According to the UN Refugee Agency, about 74,000 migrants from the Horn of Africa traveled through the Red Sea to Yemen in the last year, those numbers represent a significant rise of 50 percent in 2008.

The number of Somali migrants was the same in 2008 and 2009 but the aliens from Ethiopia increased to 42,000 in 2009. Around 5,032 migrants have crossed the Red sea to Yemen while dozens have died in the current year.

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