António Guterres, chef for FNs Flygtningen Højkommissariat, UNHCR, på dramatisk besøg blandt fordrevne i Somalia og Djibouti.
Djibouti, 7 December (UNHCR): A chance encounter last weekend in a Djibouti port with António Guterres, head of the UN refugee agency, may have saved the life of a 14-year-old Ethiopian called Ahmed.*
The teenager met the High Commissioner for Refugees as he waited in Obock for a smuggler’s boat to take him and about 30 other hungry and tired Ethiopians across the choppy, dangerous waters of the Gulf of Aden to Yemen and hopes of a better life. Ahmed had walked through the desert for seven days to reach the port, a popular embarkation point for desperate people seeking to reach Yemen.
Guterres was in Obock as part of a trip to Djibouti and northern Somalia to raise awareness about the tens of thousands of Somalis and Ethiopians who risk their lives every year to cross from the Horn of Africa on crowded, rickety boats.
“I have a lot of understanding for what you are doing, but we are very, very worried,” Guterres told the group of Ethiopians, who had been waiting two days for the smugglers to show up. “The journey is dangerous. Many people have perished and those who survive the crossing have suffered. Women are at risk [of being trafficked or raped]. If someone is afraid and wants to go back, we can help you to go back.”
Clutching a jerry can and a plastic bag with a few belongings, Ahmed hesitantly stood up and declared, “I want to go back.” Six more people followed his example, including two women and one other boy.
The remaining woman, Alima, 20, was not swayed. “When I left my country,” she said, “I had a dream to go and work in Saudi Arabia and I am not going to give in.” Her determination is typical of the people who risk their lives to cross the Gulf of Aden, be they Somalis fleeing violence in the south and centre of the country or Ethiopians escaping from persecution and conflict.
So far this year, 30.000 people have boarded smugglers’ boats at Obock, a fifth of them women. Survivors have told of horrendous abuse during the crossing, including beatings and people being forced into the water far from the shore.
There are those, however, for whom return is not an option. UNHCR has put forwards the names of 1.400 refugees who meet the criteria for resettlement in third countries. Not all will be accepted, though Guterres called on countries in the developed world to increase their resettlement quotas.
The High Commissioner discussed a third solution, local integration, during a meeting with Djibouti’s President Ismail Omar Guelleh. But while thanking the president for Djibouti’s great generosity towards refugees, he acknowledged that the country’s capacity to absorb even small numbers of refugees was very limited.
* Name changed for protection reasons
