€ 2 MLN PROJECT TO SUPPORT YEMEN TO FACE CHALLENGES OF MIXED MIGRATION

SANA'A,Jan.15 (Saba)- The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has began implementation of a project to enhance Yemen's efforts to face challenges of mixed migration at a total cost of € 2 million funded by the European Union (EU).

The project, launched last week, aims to strengthen Yemen's capabilities to protect the national and regional security and all people concerned with migration, including victims of trafficking, and to provide support to respond to the humanitarian and security challenges arising from the large inflow of migrants and asylum-seekers with difficult conditions coming to Yemen coasts.

Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Muthana said that the project comes within the IOM's program in Yemen to open a new phase of cooperation between the two sides.

The phenomenon of migration and asylum began with the collapse of the government of Somalia in 1991 and the outbreak of civil war and it expanded to Yemen to include countries such as Ethiopia and Eritrea for different reasons and motives, he added.

He pointed that the number of migrants and refugees who have arrived in Yemen during the past year amounted to more than 80 thousand of which 40 percent came from Ethiopia ,with a total number of refugees in Yemen reached to over 700 thousand refugees, according to the government statistics, while only 200 thousand refugees have been registered.

Muthana noted to the burdens carried by Yemen due to the influx of such large numbers of immigrants and refugees as well as the economic, social and security challenges that the country can not tackle them alone.

Meanwhile, he praised the efforts of EU and IOM and their support to this project, affirming the need to work with the international community to support the security, stability in Somalia and finding solutions for its problems.

For his part, the EU's ambassador to Yemen Michele Cervone confirmed the EU's pledge to support the development efforts in Yemen in the various fields, especially with regard to facing the challenges of migrants and asylum-seekers influx.

BA