UN says 68 African migrants were killed when boat capsized off Yemen
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News24
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- News24
Ramaphosa rejigs National Convention task team after exits and divisions
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Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
Despite dangers, migrant flow persists between Horn of Africa and Yemen
According to the International Organization of Migration, the route from the Horn of Africa to Yemen is one of the busiest – and deadliest – in the world. Hoping to find work in the oil-rich Gulf states, thousands of Africans, many from Ethiopia, risk their lives on perilous sea journeys. But despite the high number of deaths each year, the route garners less media attention than other migratory flows. Thousands of Africans travel from Djibouti to Yemen across the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden every year, hoping to reach Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia to work as labourers or domestic workers. The Eastern route is one of the world's most dangerous, according to the International Organization of Migration (IOM), which documented at least 558 deaths in 2024, including 462 from shipwrecks. Overall, the United Nations agency estimates that 3,400 people have died using this route over the past 10 years. On Sunday a boat carrying nearly 200 people sank off the Yemeni coast, killing more than 90 of them, with some still missing. Death roll climbs in Yemen migrant boat sinking with dozens still missing Ethiopia's permanent mission in Geneva responded by urging its citizens to "avoid irregular routes". The IOM said that it was "working with partners to mobilise resources and deliver humanitarian assistance to protect people on the move, as well as to support the government to respond to migration crisis". In March, at least 180 people were reported missing off the Yemeni coast, the majority of them from Ethiopia. Abdusattor Esoev, the IOM's head of mission in Yemen, told RFI that: "A network of cross-border smugglers exploits the desperation of people who need better jobs and better opportunities." Lack of interest The IOM estimates that 60,000 people landed in Yemen in 2024 alone. Marina de Regt, an anthropologist at the Free University of Amsterdam who specialises in migration in this region, agrees that "the numbers are enormous". "In many cases, migrants pay and don't even know they have to cross the sea and then go through Yemen before arriving in Saudi Arabia," she told RFI. She is concerned about the lack of interest shown by the international community in this busy and dangerous migratory route. "These migrations between countries in the South are not considered important by political decision-makers, particularly in Europe. All that matters to [them] is that the migrants do not end up on [their] territory." She explains why Ethiopians represent the highest number of people trying to reach the Persian Gulf countries, saying: "Ethiopia is going through a very difficult time. The Tigray War (2020-2022) is over, but instability persists and there is a lot of poverty." UN food agency forced to halt aid in Ethiopia for 650,000 women and children Caught in conflict Crossing the Red Sea or the Gulf of Aden in rickety boats isn't the only danger for migrants making the journey. In Yemen, a country gripped by civil war, they face an increased risk of violence. "In addition to the war situation, which results in a lack of food and great insecurity, the exploitation of migrants and refugees is common," said de Regt. "People are sometimes kidnapped by gangs and migrant women are sexually exploited by criminals." Last April, East African migrants also found themselves caught up in the military escalation between the United States and Houthi rebels in Yemen. Sixty-eight people were killed and dozens more injured in US strikes on a migrant detention centre in Sanaa, a rebel stronghold. Thirty-eight migrants found drowned after shipwreck off Djibouti In 2023, the NGO Human Rights Watch revealed that Saudi border guards killed hundreds of Ethiopian migrants and asylum seekers attempting to cross the border between Yemen and Saudi Arabia, between March 2022 and June 2023. "The guards at the checkpoints shoot randomly at migrants trying to cross. Crossing the Saudi border is a very risky undertaking," said de Regt. While some manage to find work in Saudi Arabia, many migrants remain in a precarious situation, at risk of arrest and deportation. "Sometimes men are deported to Ethiopia – but they start again, even though they know how risky the journey is," she said. "They will start again because they are desperate." This story has been adapted from the original RFI report in French.
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Yahoo
Uganda still battling waste disaster one year on
Zamhall Nansamba stands in front of her house in Kiteezi, a suburb of Uganda's capital Kampala, her one-year-old son in her arms. Flies buzz around her, the smell of garbage filling the air. Her flip-flops keep her feet just above the muddy dirt floor. One year ago, on August 9, 2024, an avalanche of rubbish from the adjacent landfill almost buried Nansamba's family and her home. The mother of two says she was extremely lucky: "I got up early that morning to do the housework," she recalls. "When I heard a noise I went outside. I saw the trees and the rubbish coming." Her lips tremble as she recounts, "I grabbed my two children and we ran." The 31-year-old points up at a huge mountain of waste – Kampala's municipal landfill – towering above her detached house. In 2024, tons of waste thundered down the slope and buried more than 70 houses. 34 bodies were recovered, and more than 20 people are still missing. More than 220 residents were left homeless. Later, officials said a methane explosion triggered the landslide. That day completely changed Nansamba's family's life. When she returned to see if her house was still standing, she found the building intact, but many others destroyed and the cows in the neighboring meadow were all dead. "Some of the people lost their property, lost their lives," she tells DW. "Until now, we are living a miserable life. We had rental apartments down there, and I was able to pay my children's school fees with the income from those apartments." Japanese help Immediately after the disaster, the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) told residents living near the landslide to move because the landfill could slide further. But families like Nansamba's, who live in this poor neighborhood on the northern outskirts of Kampala, have no money to settle elsewhere. Fear of another potential avalanche keeps her awake at night, Nansamba says. Her husband is undergoing psychiatric treatment. "We are all traumatized," she tells DW. Immediately after the landslide, the KCCA closed the landfill in Kiteezi, where all the waste from the two-million-strong metropolis has been piling up unsorted for over 27 years. City spokesperson Daniel Nuweabine told DW the Japanese government recently provided $1 million in funding to secure the landfill, flying in machinery and Japanese engineers. Work included compressing about 500,000 tonnes of waste. "This is a huge task. These are high-risk areas where methane gas is present in the ground and the pressure can open cracks and easily trigger further avalanches," says Nuweabine. The Kiteezi landfill is now officially closed. But where do the 2,000 tonnes of waste go that Kampala produces daily? Nuweabine says in March the KCCA bought 90 hectares of land in Buyala, 27 kilometers west of Kampala, to build a new landfill. The municipality has big plans for processing the city's waste, the spokesperson said, which includes a composting project to create biogas. An estimated 80% of household trash is compostable biowaste, because Kampala residents rarely use processed food. The rest could be recycled, Nuweabine says. In early 2024, the German Chamber of Foreign Trade held a conference on the circular economy and waste processing in Kampala. Companies such as Siemens heard the Ugandan Ministry of Environment's plans to recycle more materials. New landfills are to become recycling centers. Controversial land issue But so far, the idea lacks investors and funding. Unsorted waste is still being dumped in Buyala, which remains controversial, according to Aldon Walukamba, spokesperson for Uganda's National Forestry Authority. "To our knowledge, this is still a forest reserve," Walukamba tells DW. "It is located in the catchment area of the Mayanja River, a key contributor to Lake Victoria and its biodiversity ecosystem." "We found that indeed some garbage had been dumped," Walukamba said. When he went there himself in December 2024, soldiers and police officers were on site. In Uganda, the parliament and president must give approval before forest reserves can be degazetted for use. "This wasn't done," says Walukamba. He suspects the city administration and the previous landowners worked together "hastily and illegally" to secure the sale of the land. The controversy has sparked several court cases. The KCCA insists the land near Buyala, where garbage is now being dumped, belonged to two private individuals from whom KCCA legally acquired the land in March. A court ordered an investigation into whether it was a reserve. KCCA spokesperson Nuweabine told DW: "The report found the land in question is not part of the forest reserve." In Kiteezi the victims of the landslide that kicked everything off are still waiting for compensation to allow them to live somewhere safe. Nuweabine told DW that just recently a cabinet meeting had drafted a memorandum, and an order had been issued to the relevant finance ministry to pay victims. "The people shall be compensated," he told DW. This article was originally published in German.
