Skip to content

Somaliland orders a boat loaded with Somalis not to dock at its port

Storyline:National News

A boat loaded with Somalis and Yemen refugees who are fleeing from Yemen Conflict was rejected to dock at Berbera port by the proclaimed republic Somaliland on Thursday.
The boat which reportedly set out one day ago, ferried vulnerable Somali refugees including women and children who are fleeing away the escalating Yemen violence.
This boat will be the first to reach Somaliland’s waters since it has rejected refugee boats to dock at the harbours.
It was on 24th May this year when the administration of the breakaway Somaliland issued statement rejecting to receive boats carrying Somalis from Yemen.

Somaliland minister for interior, Ali Mohamed Waran-Adde who spoke to the media on that day said that they will no longer accept boats from Yemen to dock at their harbours.

“NGOs and Humanitarian aid agencies have fail to respond and help those poor families from Yemen who have nothing to eat or drink, our country is very young which cannot support this large number of refugees, from today on, as Somaliland Administration, we decided to stop boats loaded with Somalis, from docking at our ports” he said.

He added that they also have fear for the security their towns as hooligan people infiltrate in those boats which ferrying Somalis.
Yemen became home for ferocious fighting between the internationally recognized government and the Houthis, who have taken control of large swaths of Yemen.

The brawl claimed thousands of lives and displaced hundreds of thousands including Yemenis and Somali refugees who escaped the conflict and hardships in their country before civil war eruption in Yemen.

Since 1st April, 7000 of Somali refugees have returned home by themselves with small boats. They accused the government of ‘’failing’’ to intervene the situation of the trapped citizens.
Life went from bad to worse for the Somalis living in Yemen after the federal government revealed that it is supporting the on-going Saudi-led military offensive against the Houthi rebels who are fighting to take over internationally recognized government.
Somali government promised to dispatch ships and planes for the evacuation of Somalis caught in Yemen’s conflict.
It was on 27th April when Director of the Parliament Mohamed Iyow told Goobjoog that the parliament has approved to send two ships to evacuate Somalis in Yemen.

While other foreign nationals have been evacuated from the impoverished gulf nation, the federal government has not yet moved to evacuate its citizens despite announcing plans to bring back them home.