CNN-- MSF assists Somali refugees in Yemen

29 bodies found on Yemen beach - MSF assists survivors of deadly sea crossing
"We were 120 people, overcrowded; the trip took two days. We did not receive food, nor water. Some of us were placed in the hull. Several people died because of asphyxia, some others were thrown overboard, among them two children. In order to intimidate us, they beat us heavily with their belts. One of the smugglers threw petrol on us and showed off his lighter."

MSF and MSF podcasts: Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) team found eight dead bodies yesterday, September 9, on the beach of Wadi Al-Barak, in Yemen, 30 kms east of Ahwar. These people, refugees and migrants who had escaped from conflict and extreme poverty in the Horn of Africa, were trying to cross the Gulf of Aden. During the rest of the day, 21 more dead bodies were washed up on the coast, raising the total death toll to 29. According to the survivors' accounts, 10 more people died during the trip.

At 4.30 a.m., the MSF team was alerted to a new arrival on the coast, the seventh in nine days. When the team reached the beach, they found a group of survivors and eight dead bodies. The survivors told MSF staff that the boat arrived in the middle of the night and stopped far from the coast, in deep waters. The passengers were forced, with extreme violence, to jump into the water. Most of the people who died did not know how to swim.

The survivors explained that the smugglers were extremely brutal during the trip. According to their testimonies, up to 10 people died during the journey: several people were asphyxiated and three, including two children, were thrown into the sea by the smugglers. About 120 people were in the boat at the beginning of the journey.

According to a 23 years-old Somali refugee from Mogadishu:

"The smugglers promised us in Bossaso [Somalia] that we would be transported to Yemen in small groups with new fast boats, and with proper food and water. However, the boat was an old one. They pointed at us with their weapons and forced us to jump inside. We were 120 people, overcrowded; the trip took two days. We did not receive food, nor water. Some of us were placed in the hull. Several people died because of asphyxia, some others were thrown overboard, among them two children. In order to intimidate us, they beat us heavily with their belts. One of the smugglers threw petrol on us and showed off his lighter."

After being given first aid on the beach, the refugees went to the Ahwar Reception Centre (ARC), where MSF teams provided medical assistance and counselling.

"With the previous six boat arrivals, people had been treated humanely by the smugglers," said Alfonso Verdú, MSF Head of Mission in Yemen. "We thought that the trend might have changed, until today. The horrific cases of 2007 are being repeated again. People have been through terrible things. One woman lost her three young children. A young Ethiopian witnessed his 70 year-old father being thrown into the sea at night, and only recovered his dead body the next morning.

"The majority told us that they had no option but to flee from the violence exerted against them in Somalia and Ethiopia, even though they knew about the danger of the trip. We were expecting a massive arrival of refugees and migrants - the 2008 figures are double those of 2007. But it is clearly not only the numbers that are increasing: the violence has tripled since the beginning of September."

MSF started its project in September 2007, providing medical and humanitarian assistance to refugees and migrants arriving at the Yemeni coast of Abyan and Shabwa Governorates. During 2008, MSF has provided assistance to over 3,800 people, 580 of them in September.

In June 2008, MSF released a report entitled "No Choice" to document the conditions of the perilous journey and to call for an increased in the assistance for the thousands of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants fleeing their home countries.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Medecins
• Sans
• Frontieres
• Somalia
• Yemen
• humanitarian
• doctors
• without
• borders
• ethiopia
• africa
• middle
• east
• refugees

[aseohosting]

This is exactly what i was looking for. thank you for this.

[mafeshka]

this world is nothing is gana end one day dont feel sorry for them ,they are being tested thaz all 

[mafeshka]

@robertingramu some1 is so racist i bet dis person calls himself a muslim iam not somalian i am english and muslim and they r my brothers and sisters ,god is testing them thaz all ,u might become like dat one one day ,so be greatful,if u r a muslim shame on youuuuuuuuuuuu

[robertingramu]

It is reported that Yemeni men are having a field day fucking cheap and hopeless Somali women for almost nothing in the slums of Sanna.Why do Somali have to go to such a poor Arab country that does not even value who they are.The men even those who could never get a woman now have indefinate acces to these cheap women from Somali who would do anything to get their daily bread.As a concerned reer xamar this pains me.

[Qassem57]

my dear somali brothers as a yemeni I apologoze for the racist and ignorant commets posted by robertigarmu.honestyly he may be from the north who know nothing about how yemenis were respected in somalia.

[HopeforTomrrow09]

@robertingramu

Please go and educated yourself honestly,

Somalians are originally from Yemen , I think you are fucken stupide honestly Yemen people are consider black fucken nigger trash if you ever come to canada I will wipe your fucken nigger ass fucken Kat druggie

[robertingramu]

this is what one Yemeni had to say about Somalis"fucking Somali abid, get out of our country Yemen.We will use you as our maids, shoe shiners, waste bucket collectors and we will fuck your women. No Yemeni people want thse black Somali animals in our country. We have nothing in common with you"

[yunaas101]

@xaaliyo09 FREEDOM FROM WHO

[yunaas101]

IT IS FUNNY HOW SOMALIS GO TO YEMEN WHEN YEMEN ITSELF IS HELL

HOW COULD YOU GO TO THAT POOR COUNTRY FOR HELP IS CRAZY

[brono83]

i am very sorry to hear what is happing to the somailan refugees in yemen

brother we in the south yemen we dont have any problems but the goverment is from the north and they dont like black people at all not because they are somalians but coz they are black but in the south somalians are living side by side with the very humble southrens in the south part of yemen like (Aden ,and mukall) brother we know that somalians will not take our wealth as we dont have in the fact