The target of these migrants is not Europe.
The crisis at the Polish border is creating headlines and political uproar in Europe. The flow of African migrants to Saudi Arabia is attracting little attention.
The human drama in the cold forests on the border between Belarus and the EU’s eastern border is well described. This also applies to the flow of migrants that occurs in life-threatening vessels across the Mediterranean towards southern Europe.
But human dramas also take place elsewhere among people fleeing distress and misery. One of the world’s largest migrant routes is the one that runs between Africa and Saudi Arabia.
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The 19-year-old Ethiopian Fentahun is among thousands of migrants trying to leave Africa. His goal is not Europe, but the Arabian Peninsula.
– I was told that I could get a good job and the opportunity to change my life. People said it would be easy. But it did not happen, the teenager says in a low voice to the news picture AFP.
He is located in Hargeisa, the capital of the self-proclaimed independent republic of Somalia in Somalia. The city is a hub along the smuggling route, where many migrants find themselves in a deadlocked and hopeless situation.
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Dangerous route
The so-called Eastern Route is very dangerous. Migrants must cross scorching hot desert stretches, rugged sea areas and life-threatening war zones in search of a better life.
They come mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia and travel from the Horn of Africa across the Gulf of Aden to war-torn Yemen.
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In Yemen, they have to cross large areas marked by acts of war. The hope – and goal – is to get a job in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.
Most do not arrive
But tens of thousands of migrants are stuck in Yemen. They are unable to pay for help to move on. They are being held hostage by human traffickers, many of whom are being arrested by local authorities. Many also die on the road.
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In March, dozens of migrants died in a fire in a crowded detention center in Yemen’s capital Sana. That same month, 20 people drowned when smugglers simply threw people overboard on their way to Yemen. They feared that the vessel would sink because it was too heavily loaded.
Many people are scammed before embarking on a journey.
Two entrance gates
The eastern route has two roads to Yemen: one via the port city of Obock in Djibouti, the other – and most used – from Bosaso in northern Somalia.
In Djibouti, the coastline is carefully patrolled, making it difficult for migrants to travel. In Somalia, control is weaker, so the Bosaso alternative is more popular, even though it is a far more dangerous route. Migrants must cross isolated, lawless and desert-like areas. Daytime temperatures can be life-threateningly high.
Fentahun says that on his month-long walk between Bosaso and Hargeisa he met many migrants who were in great difficulty. Some had been robbed or physically abused, and all desperately needed food and water.
– I was very scared. It was a dangerous journey, he says.
Farhan Omer from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) says that many of those who travel are single teenagers.
– Some of them did not even have shoes when we found them, he says from a help center in Hargeisa.
Goes under the radar
Hundreds of exploited migrants live in limbo in Hargeisa. They do not have the money to return to Ethiopia, but can not continue the journey either.
– I traveled to create a better life for my children, says 35-year-old Woynshat Esheto. She is a single mother of four.
– I could not give them enough food or send them to school. I saw no other option but to try to travel to get a job as a housekeeper in Saudi Arabia, she says.
But Esheto ran out of money in Hargeisa.
Increased traffic again
The flow of refugees along the Eastern Route has picked up again after the borders closed due to the corona pandemic in 2020.
In 2018 and 2019, it was the world’s busiest, maritime migration route. More than 138,000 migrants boarded vessels to cross into Yemen in 2019. 110,000 crossed the Mediterranean in the same period.
Despite the large influx of people, the crisis is receiving little attention – or financial support.
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– The crises that affect and Europe and North America, reach much higher up in the news picture, says Richard Danziger. He is the head of the IOM’s migration office in Somalia.
– It is frustrating that this crisis receives so little attention. No one seems to be particularly interested in the problems of the people of the Horn of Africa, he says.
The dream of a better life
Driven by poverty and dreaming of a better life, Mengistu Amare does not allow himself to be deterred by the dangers he faces.
– I know I have to cross the sea to reach Saudi Arabia. I have never set foot in a boat, and I can not swim, says the 21-year-old Ethiopian.
– But I travel everywhere to get a job, he says. He left his village after hearing stories about the good life in the Gulf countries.
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