Horn of Africa loses youths to war-torn Yemen

Lack of economic opportunities has driven thousands of young adults from the Horn of Africa to war-torn Yemen, according to a recent study by the International Organization for Migration, or IOM.

In the first five months of the year, nearly 200,000 people moved to the Arabian peninsula country, exposing them to deadly perils along migration routes across the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea.

About 95 percent of the migrants tracked through IOM's Displacement Tracking Matrix in the region were Ethiopians, followed by Somalis, signaling that poverty and instability continue to be the major push and pull factors.

Ethiopia has recorded the fastest economic growth in Africa, at an annual rate of nearly 10 percent for the last decade. But the trends also show that Ethiopians have yet to feel a trickle-down effect. Over the recent past, the government has embarked on large investments in infrastructure and manufacturing zones.

Somalia does not have a stable government with the UN-backed transitional government fighting with al-Shabaab extremists for control.

The upsurge in this migration over the so-called Eastern route will probably exceed 2018 and 2017 arrival numbers in Yemen. In 2018, an estimated 160,000 migrants crossed over to Yemen while only 100,000 migrants reached the Arab Peninsula in 2017. This trend recorded a 50 percent year-on-year rise, according to IOM, an intergovernmental organization related to the United Nations.

Located at the cusp of two continents, Yemen historically has been an origin, transit and destination country for migrants.

"The majority of these migrants are adult males who are traveling for economic reasons. They seek better lives for themselves, work, security and new opportunities," said Asman Saeed from the Regional Data Hub located at the IOM Regional Office for East and Horn of Africa.

In 2018, IOM referred to this route as the world's most "youthful" because an estimated 24 percent of the migrants were children. Moreover, from nearly 900,000 movements tracked last year, 28 percent were adult females with four percent were pregnant or lactating women.

She further revealed that movement in the Eastern route exceeded migrant numbers crossing to Europe via the Mediterranean Sea from the Horn of Africa. Last year, only 107,216 arrivals were recorded in Italy.

Smaller movements were captured along the Southern and Northern routes. The former, which is from the Horn of Africa to the south via east Africa, recorded an increase of 2 percent in movement. Many of these movements were short term, followed by tourism. Economic motives came a distant third trailed by forced movements.

The Northern route, which is from the east and Horn of Africa to North Africa and then later by sea also recorded 2 percent of the total movement tracked by the tracking matrix. Last year saw a decrease of 65 percent compared to 2017.

Migration along the Horn of Africa route, which refers to movements to and within that region, was mainly due to evacuation from Yemen and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Last year, an estimated 230,000 Ethiopians returned home, with 86 percent reporting that they were returning involuntarily, according to the IOM report.

Recent IOM data is based on the assessment from 65 monitoring points in six countries including Somalia, Djibouti and Yemen. The IOM said irregular migration from the Horn of Africa to the Gulf countries has been steadily increasing over the past few years, with many crossing over with the support of smugglers.