Thousands flee to Djibouti amid renewed Yemen fighting

More than 3,400 people fleeing renewed fighting in Yemen have landed along Djibouti’s northern coast, according to Djiboutian authorities. The figure was reported by Djibouti’s state news agency on Sunday. It covers just 48 hours of arrivals, part of a surge that Djiboutian officials say began the previous weekend.

The crossings followed a Houthi offensive in which the group, which controls much of northern Yemen, seized the Red Sea port of Mocha and advanced along the coast towards the narrow strait separating Yemen from Djibouti. Djibouti has fewer than 1.2 million people and limited resources. The arrival of thousands of people within days is putting further strain on already stretched services, officials have warned.

Footage aired on Djibouti’s state broadcaster RTD showed wooden dhows and larger vessels arriving near the town of Obock, crowded with women in black robes and children wearing life jackets. Obock lies on Djibouti’s northern coast, close to the narrowest stretch of the Bab al-Mandeb between the Horn of Africa and Yemen. The area is near a departure point for refugees making the journey in the opposite direction, through Yemen towards the Gulf.

Those coming ashore could be seen carrying the belongings they had with them, including sacks of clothing, water containers, food and other personal items. In footage filmed after dark, soldiers unloaded the boats under floodlights. People have arrived on “all kinds of sea vessels, from small dhows to larger ships”, Alexandre Coissac, who heads the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Djibouti, told Al Jazeera.

One vessel alone carried hundreds of people recently, he said. The journey has also become increasingly difficult, Coissac said, with some families stranded on the Yemeni side due to fuel shortages. UNICEF said children making the crossing were exposed to extreme heat, dehydration and a lack of safe drinking water.

The IOM said on Sunday that fighting had driven residents out of entire districts in Yemen, including Maqbanah and Jabal Habashi. It put the wider displacement inside Yemen at more than 85,000 people, most of it in just the first two weeks of September. After Houthi forces seized the strategic Yemeni island of Mayyun, also known as Perim, in the Bab al-Mandeb strait, Djibouti’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on September 11 it was following developments there “with increased attention”, while backing efforts to ease tensions and reach a political solution in Yemen.