2ND 17 Africans die as two boats capsize off Yemen


dpa German Press Agency
Published: Thursday December 28, 2006

Sana'a- Seventeen African refuge seekers died and 141 were
missing after two smugglers' boats crossing the Gulf of Aden from
Somalia capsized off the Yemen's coast, a UN refugee agency and
Yemeni officials said Thursday.
The two boats were carrying Somali and Ethiopian immigrants when
they capsized in the heavy seas off Yemen late Wednesday, the office
of the United Nations Higher Commissioner for Refugees Affairs
(UNHCR) said in a statement.

"Seventeen people are confirmed dead and some 141 missing after
the smugglers' boats they were travelling in from Somalia across the
Gulf of Aden capsized off the Yemen coast," said the statement.

It said the two boats were among four smugglers' boats carrying
515 passengers, mostly Somalis fleeing the current conflict between
the Ethiopian-backed transition government of Somalia and the Islamic
Courts Union.

The 357 survivors were taken to a UNHCR-run reception centre in
Mayfaa of the south-eastern Yemeni province of Shabwa, some 460
kilometres from the capital Sana'a.

The UN agency said Yemeni security forces opened fire at two boats
after they offloaded their passengers in the shores of Shabwa.

The two other boats, which had been waiting further offshore in
the dark, tried to escape back to sea. One capsized after it became
unbalanced by agitated passengers, according to the UNHCR.

"The other vessel, pursued by two Yemeni coastguard boats and a
helicopter, was forced to head back to shore. But 300 metres from the
beach, it capsized in the heavy seas," the UNHCR's statement said.

Yemeni Coast Guard officials said all the 17 smugglers running the
four boats were arrested, and that their boats were seized.

They said military helicopters and Coast Guard vessels were still
searching for survivors on Thursday.

It was the second incident to involve an exchange of fire between
Yemeni forces and human traffickers this month.

A Somali refuge-seeker and a smuggler were killed after Yemeni
soldiers opened fire on a boat carrying 120 Somali and Ethiopian
immigrants after it reached the Yemeni coast on December 11.

According to the UNHCR, more than 25,800 people have arrived from
Somalia to Yemen this year. At least 360 were not able to make it to
shore alive.

The latest surge began in September when smugglers once again
began sailing rickety, overcrowded boats across the Gulf of Aden with
the onset of calmer weather.

Since the outbreak of civil war in Somalia, Yemen has become a
magnet for refugees fleeing violence and drought and a gateway to the
oil-rich countries of the Arabian Peninsula and Europe. It is a short
hop to Yemeni shores across the Gulf of Aden.

But hundreds of people perish every year attempting the hazardous
voyage.

Yemen, the only Arabian Peninsula country that is a signatory of
the 1951 Geneva Convention and 1967 protocol on the status of
refugees, have automatically granted prime facie refugee status to
Somalis arriving illegally in the country since collapse of their
government in 1991. Ethiopians are not automatically considered
refugees, but their cases are considered individually.

There are currently more than 88,000 registered refugees in Yemen,
of whom nearly 84,000 are Somalis.

© 2006 - dpa German Press Agency