1 000s desperate to escape
2008-09-09 17:05
Geneva - Fighting in Somalia and new smuggling routes to Yemen led more than 1 700 people to risk their lives by crossing the Gulf of Aden in August, the UN refugee agency said on Tuesday.
The monthly figure, nearly three times higher than arrivals in August 2007, marks an early resumption of smuggling after the region's summer stormy season.
"We believe that the unrest and the fighting in Somalia itself is a major contributor. People are absolutely desperate to escape," Ron Redmond, spokesperson of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told a news briefing.
More smugglers are involved in the trade and have opened up new routes across the Gulf of Aden in the past year, he said.
Some 59 smugglers' boats made the crossing last month, far more than the 10 during August 2007. The numbers are expected to rise with the onset of calmer weather, according to the UNHCR.
Twelve people on one boat died last month, eight of them after jumping into the sea when a gun battle erupted between the Yemeni military and smugglers near the coast, it said. Three suffocated in the hold of another boat.
Dangers of the journey
The UNHCR and other aid agencies have been working to alert people to the dangers of the journey, during which passengers are often beaten or pushed overboard.
"We're working on both sides of the Gulf to try to get the message out that this is an extraordinarily dangerous undertaking. That includes working along the coast in Puntland in Somalia and trying to convince people before they get on those boats that they are really taking their lives into their hands," Redmond said.
So far this year, at least 24 269 people have made the crossing aboard smugglers' boats, according to the Geneva-based agency. More than 177 have died and 225 remain missing, it said.
There have also been commercial ship hijackings in the major international sea artery used by nearly 20 000 vessels a year heading to and from the Suez Canal.