According to the UNHCR, at least 10 people being smuggled by boat died in the Gulf of Aden after a two-day journey from Somalia to Yemen. The smugglers, fearing detection by the Yemeni navy, forced the remaining passengers to disembark too far from the coast. More than 9,000 Somalis and 27,000 Ethiopians have arrived in Yemen by boat so far this year. [CNN]
The UNHCR is preparing for the first mass repatriation of Angolans from Zambia in more than three years. The agency says almost 9,000 Angolans will be sent back starting in June and finishing in September 2012. It recently has established through surveys that more Angolans — hearing their homeland is recovering from years of war — are ready to return. The 8,950 expected to return are from among more than 27,000 Angolans still in Zambia after fleeing at the height of their country’s civil war two decades ago. [The Associated Press]
Qatar has opened a government-financed refugee camp in southern Tunisia to host Libyans fleeing violence in their country. The camp opened on May 21 and provides refuge to 1,600 people out of around 60,000 Libyans who have flooded the region following violent clashes between insurgents and forces loyal to Colonel Moamer Kadhafi. Since February, Tunisia has welcomed about 415,000 refugees. [AFP]
Kenyan officials have prevented a new refugee camp from opening until solutions other than camps are proposed for the refugee crisis in Kenya. As Somalis continue to flee their war torn country, Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camp receives up to 10,000 new people each month, according to some estimates. Though the amount of food donations is still adequate, other facilities such as clinics, latrines and wells cannot accommodate the continued influx of refugees. The unopened refugee camp was completed in November 2010 at a cost of $60 million and designed to house 80,000 refugees. [Voice of America]