At least 112,000 people have been displaced inside Yemen over the past two weeks as fighting continues along the country’s west coast amid renewed conflict, while nearly 3,000 have fled by sea to Djibouti, the UN’s migration agency said Friday.
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis have stepped up attacks on Saudi cities and energy infrastructure while advancing along the Red Sea coast toward the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a strategic shipping route. Saudi and Yemeni air forces have responded by bombarding Houthi targets.
The fighting has uprooted families across Al Hodeidah, Ta’iz, Lahj, Aden, Abyan, Marib, Al Dhaleh and Shabwah governorates. The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said many fled at short notice with only a few belongings, and warned the escalation threatens to trigger a wider humanitarian crisis in communities already stretched thin.
Nearly 2,400 people crossed the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to Djibouti over a recent four-day span, with more than 60% women, children and older people, UNHCR said. The government of Djibouti is preparing for the arrival of up to 10,000 refugees, which aid officials say will add acute pressure on the country’s health and education systems. UNHCR’s representative in Djibouti, Sandrine Desamours, said arrivals were coming on overcrowded boats, many exhausted and carrying little.
UNHCR also voiced concern for more than 65,000 registered refugees and asylum-seekers already inside Yemen, most from Somalia and Ethiopia, who face renewed risk from the fighting, and said it is monitoring the possibility of further displacement toward Somalia. The agency estimates it needs roughly $14 million in new funding to meet immediate needs for those displaced inside Yemen and those arriving in Djibouti.
