More than 1200 boats arrived along the shores of Djibouti and Somalia since the beginning of the conflict in Yemen.

Ambassador William L. Swing, IOM Director General, and his delegation visited the Saudi capital Riyadh on 15 Nov and had meetings with Prince Turki Bin Mohammed at the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs and also met with Dr. Abdullah Al-Rubaeeah, Supervisor General of King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSC). The visit focused on the growing cooperation between the KSA and IOM, and support for IOM’s humanitarian work in Yemen and within the region.

UNHCR & IOM will partner to secure multi-government buy-in to operationalize the joint Proposal for Strategic Action related to the Gulf of Aden & the Red Sea.

UNHCR, IOM and partners jointly launched the 2016 Regional Refugee and Migrant Response Plan in Nairobi on 9 December. A total of USD 94.1 million is required for an anticipated 163,980 beneficiaries (refugees, migrants and returnees fleeing from Yemen to Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, and host communities) by December 2016.

Both UNHCR and IOM co-leads of the RRMRP undertook a joint mission to Riyadh on 15 December, to meet with the Managing Director of King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center. KSC reaffirmed their interest in funding the Somalia proposal targeting the return, reception and integration of 20,000 Somalis from Yemen, at the request of the FGoS through its ambassador in Riyadh.

UNHCR & IOM will partner to secure multi-government buy-in to operationalize the joint Proposal for Strategic Action related to the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea

UN, IOM and NGO regional agencies, along with the Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, met together in Nairobi on 9 December to review lessons learnt from the regional approach in 2015, share updates on the Gulf of Aden strategy and discuss ongoing scenario planning.

Data on sea arrivals in Yemen show that despite the ongoing conflict some 92,446 people arrived in Yemen by boat in 2015. This is one of the highest annual totals of the past decade. A full two thirds arrived since March 2015 when the conflict began.

During the reporting period (25-31 August 2015), a total of three boats carrying 96 individuals arrived in Somalia from Yemen to Berbera.

UNHCR has set up 218 new refugee housing units in Markazi Camp, Djibouti to accommodate the new arrivals. 2,617 refugees are now sheltered in Markazi Camp.