Somalis in Yemen
Total population
71.000 (46,750 refugees)
Regions with significant populations
Aden
Sana'a
Lahj Governorate
Languages
Somali
Arabic
Religion
Islam
Related ethnic groups
Oromo, Afar, Saho, and other Cushitic-speaking peoples

Somalis in Yemen make up the historical Somali population in Yemen. Around 71,000 Somalis live in Yemen, of which 46,750 are refugees.[1][2]

History

Many Somalis and Yemenis can trace back their ancestry to a unspecified homeland.[3] Many Somalis fled to Yemen during the Somali Civil War.[4]

Demographics

There are around 71.000 Somalis in Yemen, mostly concentrated around Aden.[5] There are also some on Lahij Gvernorate.

Many Somalis in Yemen now speak Arabic instead of their native Somali language due to language shift.[6] But also due to the fact that there are no Somali teachers in the refugee camps or enough budget to allocate funds to teach the Somali language.[7]

Many Somalis have returned back to their homeland deeming its safe enough to return. "The voluntary returns are part of UNHCR’s Assisted Spontaneous Return (ASR) programme".[1] Since 2017 over 6,200 somali refugees have returned home[1]

Conditions

In 2010, Reuters reported that poverty among Somali refugees in Yemen remains common.[8] Following the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, the World Health Organization reported that migrant groups faced stigmatization as "transmitters of disease" after a Somali refugee was identified as the first case in the country.[9]

Yemeni refugees in Somalia

Following the outbreak of the Yemeni civil war, some refugees from Yemen have moved to Somalia. In 2022, Anadolu Agency reported that many Yemeni refugees have felt welcomed by Somali society.[10] As of late December 2021 there are 8,341 registered Yemeni refugees and asylum seekers in Somalia[10]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Khalaf, Mysa (10 September 2023). "UNHCR: Over 6,200 Somali Refugees Voluntarily Returned Home from Yemen Since 2017". VOA. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
  2. ^ "Somalia Refugee Crisis Explained". Oxfam International. July 17, 2023. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
  3. ^ Rigby, C. P. (1867). "On the Origin of the Somali Race, Which Inhabits the North-Eastern Portion of Africa". Transactions of the Ethnological Society of London. 5: 91–95. doi:10.2307/3014215. JSTOR 3014215 – via JSTOR.
  4. ^ "Somalis used to flee to Yemen to escape war. Now it's the other way around". The World from PRX.
  5. ^ "Somali refugees in Yemeni limbo - Yemen | ReliefWeb".
  6. ^ "Somali".
  7. ^ Trapped in Yemen | Al Jazeera World, retrieved 2023-09-30
  8. ^ "Desperate Somalis turn to prostitution in Yemen". Reuters. 2010-02-10. Retrieved 2023-06-10.
  9. ^ "WHO, IOM raise concern over COVID-19 discrimination against migrants in Yemen". World Health Organization - Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean. 2020-05-10. Retrieved 2023-06-10.
  10. ^ a b Dhaysane, Mohammed (2022-01-21). "Yemeni refugees integrate smoothly into Somali society". Anadolu Agency. Retrieved 2023-06-09.
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