Somalia: At Least 56 Die As Perilous People Smuggling Resumes Across Gulf of Aden, UN Reports

14 September 2007

New York — At least 56 Africans have died violently, some reportedly beaten or doused with acid by smugglers, as the new season of people smuggling gathers steam across the Gulf of Aden in a perilous exodus that takes tens of thousands of Somalis and Ethiopians to Yemen every year, the United Nations refugee agency reported today.

In the past 10 days the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has recorded the arrival of 12 boats carrying 925 Somalis, Ethiopians and others. Another smuggler's boat apparently failed to reach Yemen after encountering problems about 100 kilometres west of Bosaso in Somalia's Puntland region. The trafficking regularly resumes in September after the summer's storms subside.

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