Yemen : two Somalis die in human trafficking route to Saudi Arabia

DHAMAR, — Two Somalis died and 27 others were wounded on Saturday when the bus taking them to Haradh district, to be smuggled to Saudi Arabia, overturned in the Al-Manar district of Dhamar governorate.

Instead of driving on the major road, Khalid Anam, director of the Traffic Police in Dhamar, said the bus selected a secondary route to avoid security checkpoints.

The crash’s seriously injured are in Dhamar General Hospital while the bus’s driver and other Somalis are being held by police in Dhamar, Anam said.

According to initial investigations, Anam said, the driver was working for a person known for the illegal transportation of African migrants in Yemen.

A majority of migrants come to Yemen and then infiltrate to neighboring countries, particularly Saudi Arabia, while some of them remain in Yemen to work on farms in Sa’ada and Amran governorates, said Salah Al-Humidi, the head of the Equality Organization.

“African refugees are used in tribal conflicts in different Yemeni governorates, particularly in Sa’ada and Al-Baida’a,” he said.

The smuggling of African migrants to Yemen has increased over the past two years and become a very lucrative business,  Al-Humidi said. He pointed out that migrants are typically smuggled into Yemen via the sea.

“To avoid being captured by police, sometimes some of those Africans die at sea,” Al-Humidi said.

In a previous statement to the Yemen Times, Colonel Abdulla Al-Zorka, director of the Deportation Department at the Migration and Passports Authority, said that 70,000 refugees, about 70 percent of African migrants are trapped in the Haradh area.

Each month, thousands of refugees arrive illegally in Yemen to seek safety and better living standards, according to the United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Yemen Times