Somali refugees brave sea passage to escape insurgency

Mousa's tipping point came three weeks ago. After months of street battles in Mogadishu, only three men from his militia unit were still alive. "My elder brother called me from Yemen and told me: 'come!' " says Mousa.

The journey from Mogadishu to Yemen is increasingly difficult these days. But for those like Mousa who are desperate enough to make the trip, the first stop is Boosaaso, Somalia's major shipping hub on the north coast. After arriving, many aspiring emigrants settle in with their clan groups, look for casual work in the port, and set up homes in flimsy shacks made of sticks and cardboard. Others – more than a thousand people every month – make the treacherous crossing to Yemen over the Gulf of Aden in tiny, overcrowded fishing boats.

More than 320,000 men, women, and children – almost a third of the country's urban population – have taken flight this year, according to the United Nations. In the messy aftermath of the Islamic Courts' Union January defeat, Somalia's capital has fractured into small, rival armies as Islamic insurgents and clan warlords compete to usurp Abdullahi Yusuf's transitional government, which is backed by Ethiopian troops. In the midst of the fighting, Ugandan peacekeepers are failing to stem a growing civilian exodus from what amounts to the worst fighting since the outbreak of civil war in 1991.

"It's a punishing journey and it can be fatal. The dhows are overloaded and they often capsize, or they're fired on by the Yemeni coast guard," says Santiago Perez of the Danish Refugee Council (DRC), referring to traditional Arab fishing boats. "But increasing numbers seem willing to risk their lives as the situation in Mogadishu gets worse."

The engine behind this mass exodus: Yemen's guarantee of automatic refugee status for Somalis. There are now 84,000 registered Somali refugees in Yemen, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, but many more don't register. They buy forged ID cards and wash cars to make money, or they continue heading north to the Saudi border.

Night after night, on remote beaches on the outskirts of Boosaaso, hundreds of Somalis and increasing numbers of Ethiopian economic migrants are herded onto fishing dhows in the darkness. In two or three days time, if they are lucky, they will arrive in Yemen. Mousa's $100 fare buys him hunger, thirst, cramps, and beatings. He will have to urinate where he sits.

But Mousa (all names have been changed) says he is going anyway. "I know the dangers I'm facing but I can't have a good life here in Boosaaso and if I go back to Mogadishu, a bullet will kill me. I will die one day, so now I'm in the hands of Allah. Only he knows if I will survive this journey."

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