Djibouti Seeks Aid After 2,500 Yemenis Arrive, With 10,000 More Expected
Updated
Updated · Al Jazeera English · Sep 16
Djibouti Seeks Aid After 2,500 Yemenis Arrive, With 10,000 More Expected
2 articles · Updated · Al Jazeera English · Sep 16
Summary
More than 2,500 Yemenis have reached Djibouti since last Thursday, prompting the government to say the influx has already exceeded national capacity.
Interior Minister Omar Abdi Said said arrivals could climb to about 10,000 in coming weeks as heavy fighting intensifies in western Yemen between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed government.
Djibouti urged the UN and other partners to provide urgent funding, warning that pressure is rising as international humanitarian support declines.
IOM staff and local authorities are distributing food and water to new arrivals, many of them women, children, babies and sick people arriving daily.
The surge adds to Yemen's wider humanitarian crisis, where more than 4.5 million people have been displaced since the Saudi-led coalition entered the war in 2015.