Gulf of Aden immigrant rate soars in 2009: UN

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GENEVA — Since the beginning of 2009, a total of 994 boats and 50,400 clandestine migrants have crossed the Gulf of Aden between Somalia and Yemen, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said Tuesday.




"September and October are the height of the sailing season and the number of arrivals by sea is staggering," UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic said, with the figures representing a 50 percent increase on the same period last year.



The UNHCR said that so far this year 266 people have drowned attempting the crossing with another 153 missing presumed dead. The total dead and missing for all of 2008 was 948.



More than half those making the crossing are Ethiopians, Mahecic said, and almost all the rest Somalis.



"Those who make the crossing are fleeing desperate situations of civil war, political instability, poverty, drought and famine in Somalia and the Horn of Africa," he said.



The UN early this month reminded governments and sailors that they are legally obliged to help migrants who embark on the world's seas in vessels that are often unseaworthy.



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