115 Illegal migrants seized by Yemen in single day

SANA'A, April 25 (Saba) - Police have seized 101 African illegal
migrants at Abyan coast and 14 others at Taiz coast, bringing the
number of the arrested infiltrators in a single day to about 115
people and to over 300 people so far this month.

The arrests come as the Interior Ministry voiced concern over the
influx of African displaced people into the country which it says
lays more burdens on Yemen's fragile economy.

And they came a day after the UNHRC said about 35 African migrants
died while trying to reach Yemen coasts in a drowning accident that
took place after a smuggling boat carrying 110 people sank off Aden.

UNHRC officials said a dozen of migrants were missing and many
others including an eight-Somali child made it to shore.

The drowning is the second in a single month and the fourth so far
this year.

Another boat which was carrying 105 African migrants could continue
its trip safely, the officials said, adding the two boats came from
a Somali port.

About 131 African migrants, mostly from Somalia, drowned while
trying to reach Yemeni territories through sea and 66 others went
missing during the first months of 2009, the UNHRC says.

In January a ferry with about 300 Somali and Ethiopian migrants on
board sank in the Red Sea with many reported missing and dozens
rescued.

In March 8 migrants died when their boat capsized off the Aden city
while dozens could be rescued by international forces patrolling the
Indian Ocean on anti-pirate operations in association with Yemen's
navy.

In this month, people in Abyan province said 17 bodies were washed
up on shore which the authorities said were of Africans who were
among 90 migrants carried by a smuggling boat trying to reach Yemen.


The authorities said the migrants died after the smugglers forced
them to swim in deep waters.

Others made it to Yemen coast while a dozen was announced missing.

According to the UNHRC statistics about 387 boats carrying 20.000
African migrants arrived in Yemen in 2009.

Many of the African migrants fleeing deteriorating situations in
their homelands die as boats capsize or as smugglers force
passengers to swim in fear the authorities could arrest them. Yemen
says over 700.000 is the number of those African displaced people
who have already reached its territories coming from Horn African
countries.

While the UNHRC argues the number is much exaggerated.

Yemen has recently started measures to deport illegal migrants to
their countries, in a move that comes as the influx of the African
people lays more burdens on its fragile economy.