[05/November/2009]

TAIZ, Nov. 05 (Saba)- About 189 Somali would-be refugees, including128 children and 61 women, have reached Yemen's coasts on boats operated by smugglers, Interior Ministry reported on Thursday.

The security authorities were quoted by the ministry website as saying that the Somalis reached last Wednesday the coasts of the provinces of Taiz, Hadramout and Shabwa.

The authorities have held the Somalis and sent them to the main camp of the Somali refugees in Kharaz area of Lahj province, south Yemen.

Yemen received last month 4392 Somali refugees, including many women and children and in September over 3615 Somali refuges, including 1000 women and 100 children, reached the shore of the country.

Between January and August this year, some 36,000 Africans reached the shore of Yemen, an increase of 33 percent over the same period last year.

In 2008, 50,091 people arrived in Yemen on smugglers' boats. Some 590 people drowned and 359 others are missing at sea and presumed dead.

Security forces mentioned that the number of African migrants whom entered the country illegally have reached over 1555 including 1315 Ethiopians of which Taiz province has received 800.

According to Yemen statistics, more than 800,000 Somali refugees are in Yemen. However, the UNHCR estimated the number of the refugees from Somalia at 160,000.

SA/YA

Saba