More than 5,000 Somalis have opted to return home from Yemen - UN
Mogadishu, Somalia (PANA) - A boatload of Somali refugees set out for home from war-torn Yemen on Thursday, bringing to more than 5,000 the number of voluntary returns to Somalia by UN agencies since 2017.
The initiative, co-funded by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, provides those who want to go home with documentation, transport and cash assistance, a UN statement said.
Yemen hosts the world’s second largest Somali refugee population, some 250,000 people, according to the UN. It is a long-standing refugee host nation and the only country in the Arabian Peninsula which is signatory to the Refugee Convention.
The regular returns from Yemen are an indication that after nearly five years of conflict in the country, the situation for civilians, refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants is unsustainable, IOM and UNHCR said in a statement.
-0- PANA MA 13Dec2019
