The end may be in sight for preventing a Red Sea oil spill from a long-abandoned vessel off Yemen’s coast, with a new deal announced between the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and Boskalis, a maritime services company that will lead the $148 million cleanup. Work on the FSO Safer,…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
Officials in Saudi Arabia say that Houthi rebels in Yemen are responsible for a piracy incident in the Red Sea on Sunday, one that affected governments are working to resolve through diplomatic channels but say calls attention to the security situation on a strategic global shipping route. A spokesman of…
The heightened rhetoric following Saturday’s attack on Saudi Aramco oil infrastructure seemed more heat than light, as the United States accused Iran of being responsible – which Iran denies – and threatened retaliation in keeping with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s wishes. It’s still uncertain how much structural damage was…
While much attention is rightly focused on the perils of Mediterranean Sea crossings, the Human Rights Watch organization is calling attention to the conditions faced by Ethiopian migrants as they take other routes across the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. “A combination of factors, including unemployment and other economic…
Humanitarian workers say they’re working to repatriate Somali and Ethiopian refugees who are trapped in Yemen, but problems with the flight permissions necessary to evacuate them were hampering the effort. “The flight delays are putting thousands of migrants’ lives at further risk,” said Mohammed Abdiker of the International Organization for…
More than 400 Ethiopian migrants who have been stranded in Yemen are headed home, as the International Organization for Migration (IOM) begins flights to take them to Addis Ababa. The first group of 102 Ethiopians landed in Addis Ababa on Monday, with another 316 arriving by Thursday through a Voluntary…
Migrants traveling with smugglers off the coast of Yemen were forced into the sea on Thursday, with another five people reported dead and some 50 missing – just a day after a similar episode claimed 50 lives. The International Organization for Migration said up to 180 migrants were forced off…
At least 42 people are now reported dead and another 20 to 30 injured following an attack Thursday on refugees traveling by boat across the Red Sea from Yemen and heading to Sudan. The update from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that many of the victims are…
Somali pirate gangs are holding 39 hostages, five of them from Kenya, according to a United Nations Security Council report that highlights the continued role of illegal fishing and its links to piracy risks. The annual update on piracy and security interventions off the coast of Somalia listed the Kenyan hostages…
Deported migrants arriving from Yemen are swelling the population of Djibouti camps, as officials with the International Organization for Migration warn that 3,000 more may arrive in the next few days. Djibouti has become “the epicenter,” says IOM official Jeffrey Labovitz, for complicated flows of migrant crossings over the Red…