Kenya: An unknown number of Kenyans are reportedly among victims of war who have arrived in Somalia's north-eastern state of Puntland after fleeing the armed conflict in Yemen.
Their identities or place of origin in Kenya is not known but several families in Mombasa have reported their kin are missing or stranded in Yemen or are fleeing to Oman.
According to media reports published on Thursday by Garowe Online, a sister publication of Radio Garowe; a community radio station based in Garowe, Puntland, 700 returnees have arrived in that part of Somalia since the Yemen civil war broke out.
Puntland Deputy Minister of Interior, Abdullahi Haji Warsame, is quoted saying that 721 refugees including Yemenis, Ethiopians, Kenyans, Djiboutis and Somalis reached Puntland by boat over the last few days.
Puntland is a semi autonomous part of North-east Somalia which broke away in the late 1990s and is relatively safe, compared to chaotic Southern Somalia.
"We have so far received 721 migrants; most of them arrived at Bossaso seaport and close to 100 others in boats landed in the coastal towns of Tohin, Bargal and Gumbah," said Warsame.
The large influx including 229 women crossed Red Sea into Somalia by boat, seeking safer haven as crisis continue to mount in Yemen.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) revealed that it is coordinating preparations to receive up to 100,000 migrants from Yemen within Puntland.
"UNHCR is extremely concerned about the dangers for anyone trying to flee across the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, where there are no search and rescue operations," said Adrian Edward, a spokesman for UNHCR.
With Bossaso and Berbera Port cities being an entry point, local officials in Puntland braced up for hundreds of Somalis previously displaced by chronic insecurity and lately caught in Yemen crossfire.
Despite pledges of evacuation by Somalia Federal Government and Kenya many are believed to have been stranded in Yemen.
Washingtone Oloo, the director of Diaspora Affairs at the Kenyan ministry of Foreign Affairs says the government is alarmed by the plight of Kenyans stranded in Yemen and Puntland.
He told The Standard on Saturday yesterday that there will be an arrangement to airlift Kenyans in the Somalia territory to Kenya.
He also announced that a special chartered flight was to be sent to Sanaa, the Yemen capital to pick Kenyans stuck in that city.
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