Thousands of Somali refugees have reached the port town of Mukalla in southern Yemen hoping to find a way of escaping the conflict there.
Most appear desperate for financial support to enable them to find transport out of Yemen.
They are enduring poor living conditions in Mukalla as most have no resources at all and available aid is running out, according to Abdullahi Sharif Osman, head of Jimiyatu Al-Birri, a local Yemeni humanitarian organization.
In a phone interview, Radio Ergo’s Mohamed Hassan asked Abdullahi about the situation in Mukalla.
Abdullahi: The Somali people here are in bad condition and have been seriously affected by the conflict in Yemen. We have temporarily sheltered them in school buildings that are turned into camps. We had been approaching the local business people to request them to help the refugees and with the little we got from them, we have bought food and other basic things to keep them going.
Ergo: How many Somalis are currently in Mukalla?
Abdullahi: There are now 3,000 families already registered and they are camped at six centres including school buildings. However, there are a further estimated 1,600 people who have arrived since yesterday [not yet registered]. Many others are also on their way to this town.
Ergo: Are they planning to leave for Somalia?
Abdullahi: 70 per cent of the Somali refugees who arrived here want to return to their country but they don’t have the means or the helping hand. Due to the meager resources at our disposal, we are now planning to gather them in one centre so that we can easily access all of them.
Ergo: Have you contacted the Somali government to help them?
Abdullahi: Yes. We contacted the Somali consul in Yemen, Ahmed Sudani, and he told us they were trying their best to reach out to the affected people, but we are still waiting for their response.
Ergo: As an organization, what are you doing for those people?
Abdullahi: We extend a helping hand to the arriving people, shelter them and seek assistance for them, but that is not enough. Their number is getting higher and higher. We have now readied a special boat to transport some of them to Somalia soon. It will leave for Bossaso next week.
Abdullahi said that the support from the local business people in the area had stopped, as the Yemeni community was also feeling the enormous strain of the conflict ad had little left to share.
He sent an appeal to aid agencies and the Somali government to come to the rescue of the people who are willing to be assisted to go back to Somalia.
