A. Situation analysis
Description of the disaster
On 26 March 2015 the Saudi led coalition started an air bombardment campaign targeting the positions of the Houthi rebels and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh in Yemen. The following months have seen an escalation in air bombardment in the capital Sanaa, Saada, Taiz, Hadramouth and many other areas in Yemen, which affected an estimated 500,000 people, including 244,000 Somali registered refugees according to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). As a result, Somali and Yemeni nationals and other third country nationals affected by the crisis have begun to flee the country through the ports of Al Mukalla and Mukha in Yemen.
On 28 March 2015, 32 Yemeni nationals reached the port of Berbera in Somaliland. According to Somaliland immigration authorities, the arrivals were from the Ibb or Qahdani tribes fleeing violence in Mukha, Taiz region, Yemen and all had the relevant travel documentation. On 1 April 2015, 90 people reached the port of Bossaso (Puntland) comprising Somali returnees, originally from Puntland and South Central Somalia (Mogadishu, Kismayu, Qoryooleey etc.), claiming to flee violence against Somalis living in the Sana`a, Aden and Mukala areas of Yemen, and protection issues affecting women; as well as groups of Yemeni nationals. On 9 May 2015, at 12:30, a vessel (Noba1) arrived at Berbera Port carrying the biggest number of refugees/returnees since the Yemen crises begun (524 persons), mostly women and children. The refugees/returnees were reported to be travelling on commercial boats, each paying US $50 per person; however in some instances they had to pay additional money to the owners/brokers of the boats to be able to travel as there were many people on the waiting list for departure.
By 15 June 2015, the total number of arrivals in Puntland, Somaliland and South Central had reached 17,356 , Out of them, 9,884 individuals were registered at the Reception Centres in Bosaso and Berbera and at Mogadishu Airport (UNHCR). The initial estimates by UNHCR at the beginning of the influx that 2,000 people will cross the Arabian Sea into Somalia in the first two months has been exceeded by far.