Skip to main content

Quarterly Mixed Migration Update East Africa & Yemen, Quarter 2, 2021

Countries
Ethiopia
+ 8 more
Sources
MMC
Publication date
Origin
View original

This Quarterly Mixed Migration Update (QMMU) covers the East Africa and Yemen region (EAY). The core countries of focus for this region are Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, Somalia, DR Congo, South Sudan and Yemen. Depending on the quarterly trends and migration-related updates, more attention may be given to any of the countries over the rest.

The QMMUs offer a quarterly update on new trends and dynamics related to mixed migration and relevant policy developments in the region. These updates are based on a compilation of a wide range of secondary (data) sources, brought together within a regional framework and applying a mixed migration analytical lens. Similar QMMUs are available for all MMC regions.

Key Updates

• Fragile ceasefire declared in Tigray: A fragile ceasefire has been declared in Ethiopia following eight months of violent conflict in the Tigray region. Around 2 million people are internally displaced and more than 63,000 Ethiopians are seeking refuge in Eastern Sudan. 5.5 million are acutely food insecure.

• Refugee and migrant arrivals in Yemen fall: 1,331 East African refugees and migrants arrived in Yemen between April and May 2021, a 54% decrease compared to the same period in 2020 (2,920).

• Over 150 migrants feared dead in boat tragedy off Yemen coast: A boat carrying 200 people overturned while on a return journey to the Horn of Africa from Yemen. 25 bodies were recovered by fisherman while more than 150 people are feared to be missing or dead.

• Spontaneous returns from Yemen continue: Amid multiple reports of boat tragedies in the Bab-elMandeb strait between the Horn of Africa and Yemen, 3,474 East Africans return to the Horn from Yemen, 2,845 arrivals in Djibouti and 629 in Somalia.

• More than 30,000 Ethiopian migrants deported from Saudi Arabia in a span of two weeks: In a ramping up of deportations from Saudi Arabia, 30,078 Ethiopian migrants were deported from the Kingdom between 26 June – 9 July 2021. Tigrayan returnees account for 40% of returns between November 2020 and June 2021.

• Increasing pushback from Europe to deter refugees and migrants: Denmark and the United Kingdom propose to have asylum seekers transferred to a third country as their applications are processed.
Unconfirmed speculations suggest that the third country is Rwanda, after Denmark signed an M.O.U. with Rwanda’s government to address immigration and asylum issues.