More than 100,000 people have been displaced inside Yemen by escalating fighting between the Houthi rebels and forces loyal to the internationally recognised government, the UN Refugee Agency said. Thousands more have risked crossing the Bab al-Mandeb strait to reach Djibouti.
UNHCR said the violence along Yemen’s western coast is placing pressure on communities and displacement sites with limited resources, threatening to trigger a wider humanitarian crisis.
Families flee with few belongings
UNHCR said many families left at short notice, with shelter, food, clean water, healthcare and protection services among their most urgent needs. Receiving communities and displacement sites are becoming overstretched.
Aisha Muhammad said she left five children in a village near the port city of Mocha after it was overrun by Houthi forces. She said her daughters were trapped inside their homes and had little food. Hussein Haydara, who fled from Hodeidah with his family, described escaping shelling and sniper fire with only essential belongings.
A dangerous route to Djibouti
UNHCR said more than 2,400 people made the sea crossing from Yemen across the Bab al-Mandeb in the four days before its statement. The agency said arrivals were exhausted and distressed after the journey and had brought only what they could carry. Read the context: Yemen displacement drives new arrivals on Djibouti’s coast.
Sandrine Desamours, UNHCR’s representative in Djibouti, said most of those arriving were women, children and older people. The agency said additional support was needed for people reaching Djibouti, beyond the $14m requested for immediate needs inside Yemen.
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