The United Nations is telling refugees and immigrantsfrom the Horn of Africa that they should not sail across the Red Sea toYemen. The UN refugee agency says thousands of people are traveling toYemen even though fighting in the country has made it a very dangerousplace.

FILE - Women and children wait to fill buckets with water from a public tap amid an acute shortage of water, in Sana'a, Yemen, May 9, 2015. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)

The United Nations reported this week that at least 1,670 civilians have beenkilled in Yemen since Saudi Arabia began its bombing campaign at the end ofMarch. It said more than 3,800 others were wounded in that period.

Aid agencies say the increase in fighting has worsened the humanitariansituation in Yemen. They now say four out of five Yemenis -- 21 million out of 25 million people -- need assistance.

Yet the UN refugee agency reports that large numbers of Somalis andEthiopians continue to arrive in Yemen. Ten thousand of the 37,000 who havetraveled to Yemen this year have arrived since the end of March.

Johannes van der Klaauw is the UN refugee agency’s representative inYemen.

“People are either not informed -- particularly the migrants -- or they take thedeliberate choice to still come to a country at war because the economicmigrants amongst them are on their way to Saudi Arabia and it is the only wayto get there. But, there are also still Somalis coming who still fleepersecution in Somalia and say they are safer in Yemen notwithstandingthe war than they would be staying back in Somalia.”

Johanes Van der Klaauw says many of those who have recently arrived inYemen may not understand the dangers they face in the country. That is why, he says, the UN and other groups have set up a mass information campaignin Somalia and Ethiopia to urge migrants and refugees not to come to Yemen.

About 240,000 Somali refugees and 10,000 migrants from Ethiopia, Eritrea,Syria, and Iraq now live in Yemen. Mr. van der Klauuw says 51,600 Yemenis,Somalis, Ethiopians and people from other countries have left Yemen over thepast three-and-one-half months. He says most have fled to Djibouti,Somaliland, Puntland and Somalia. Others decided to go to Oman.

“The Somalis all self-evacuated. They at great risk go to the ports of Mokala,Hodeidah, Moka -- even Aden when it was possible. They organize their owndeparture. It is difficult for them to organize their trip. There is, of course,money involved.”

He says those who have fled Yemen are not returning to their home countries. And, he says, the UN refugee agency is not assisting with these returns. But he says his agency and the International Organization for Migration areseeking to help these people better organize their departure.

He says disabled people, women with children, and older adults are especiallyhelpless and in need of protection. He says he worries about what awaitsthem when they arrive in other countries.

I’m Jim Tedder.

Lisa Schlein reported this story from Geneva, Switzerland. George Growadapted it for VOA Learning English. Christopher Jones-Cruise was the editor.

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Words in This Story

Horn of Africa– n. an area of East Africa that includes Ethiopia and Somalia

migrants – n. people who flee or move from one place to another foreconomic reasons

deliberate– adj. doing something on purpose, with thought

persecution– n. treating someone badly because of their race or theirpolitical or religious beliefs

notwithstanding– v. offering resistance or opposition to something

self-evacuated– v. leaving on one’s own without help from others