Continued Flow of African Migrants on the Coasts of Shabwa, Yemen

SadaNews - The Yemeni Ministry of Interior announced the arrival of 200 Ethiopian migrants via the coasts of the Radoum district in Shabwa governorate, southern Yemen, raising the total number of newcomers to the governorate in one month to 900 African migrants.

The ministry's website mentioned that the local police clarified that the migrants "arrived illegally aboard a smuggling boat to Kida Beach, accompanied by four Somali sailors."

The ministry added that the continuing flow of migrants from the Horn of Africa to Yemeni coasts increases the scale of economic challenges and social, cultural, and security risks associated with this phenomenon, especially given the circumstances the country is experiencing.

According to previous data from the ministry, more than 700 migrants from the Horn of Africa entered through the coasts of Shabwa governorate from January 2 until January 27 of this year.

In a related context, the International Organization for Migration said in a recent report that it monitored the arrival of 110,144 African migrants to Yemen during the year 2025.

It clarified that 97% of these migrants are Ethiopian nationals, while 3% are Somali, indicating that these figures confirm Yemen's status as a "major transit country" towards Saudi Arabia and Gulf states.

The organization noted that migration flows stopped from April to early August 2025, which suggests - according to its estimates - that the real number of arrivals during the year could exceed 110,000 migrants.

During the month of December alone, the organization documented the arrival of around 22,000 migrants from the Horn of Africa to Yemeni coasts, compared to 17,000 in November.

Source: Al Jazeera + Yemeni Press