Fleeing Yemen war, refugees arrive in Horn of Africa

Tuesday, 4/14/2015

Yemenis arrive in small boats across narrow straits to Djibouti, fleeing Saudi-led airstrikes as agencies fear rapidly rising influx


A young Yemeni girl holds a metal-basin as she heads to her chores at a refugee boarding facility run by the UUNHCR at Obock, a small port town in Djibouti on April 13, 2015 (AFP)

Refugees from war-torn Yemen have described the terror of intense airstrikes as they arrive in the Horn of Africa, where aid agencies are fearing an influx of people.

On the shores of Djibouti, those who have taken a perilous boat ride across the Gulf of Aden describe the horror of the bombing that pounded their homes in Yemen.

"Suddenly the planes came and airstrikes hit," said Murisala Mohamed Ahmed, a community leader from Yemen's Bab al-Mandeb region, the key shipping channel at the entrance to the Red Sea that separates Africa from Arabia.

"The military positions were near, and we feared for the children... we had to come to Djibouti," he added. They crossed the narrow straits to the Horn of Africa, which is only 30 kilometres wide at its narrowest point.

http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/fleeing-yemen-war-refugees-arrive-horn-africa-1904792212