Somali refugees are fleeing war, cholera and hunger in Yemen, the UN said Thursday (October 5th), with 10,000 expected to return home, AFP reported.
Somalis make up 91% of refugees and asylum seekers in Yemen, with the UN reporting some 256,000 Somalis based in camps in Yemen.
Thousands have headed to Yemen since the start of 2017, despite a conflict in Yemen that has killed thousands and a cholera outbreak threatening nearly one million people.
But up to 10,000 Somali refugees are now trying to flee Yemen, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Two boats chartered by UNHCR and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) have already left Yemen's port of Aden for the Somali port of Berbera, most recently on Sunday.
A third vessel may also depart later this month, UNHCR said, on a journey of 16 to 18 hours.
"In total, 284 Somali refugees have returned from Yemen already in the past three weeks," UNHCR's Yemen spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo said Thursday.
