ADEN (Xinhua) – International Organization for Migration (IOM), the migration agency of the United Nations, has announced that it has helped more than 3,200 African migrants stranded in Yemen to return safely to their home countries so far this year.
The migrants, including 254 unaccompanied children, have returned home this year through the IOM’s Voluntary Humanitarian Return program, according to a statement posted on IOM’s Twitter account.
The migrants departed from Yemeni capital Sana’a, and cities of Aden and Seiyun, onboard flights, it added.
The IOM has called for more financial support to help around 200,000 African migrants in Yemen, including 43,000 migrants who are in urgent need of assistance, to return to their home countries.
Despite years of the Saudi-led war, Yemen continues to serve as a transit country for tens of thousands of migrants heading from the Horn of Africa for Saudi Arabia.
Migrants in Yemen face difficult living conditions and lack proper shelters or services, according to the United Nations.
Yemen has been embroiled in a war waged by the Saudi-led coalition since late 2015.
The key objective of the war was to crush the Ansarullah movement, which has been running state affairs in the absence of an effective government in Yemen.
However, the Saudi-led military aggression has stopped well shy of all of its objectives, despite leaving tens of thousands of Yemenis killed and many more starved and displaced, turning the entire country into what is widely recognized as the scene of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.