Djibouti has emerged as the central transit juncture for two opposing humanitarian migration corridors along the Red Sea, absorbing thousands of displaced civilians fleeing escalating warfare in Yemen while simultaneously accommodating tens of thousands of Ethiopian migrants attempting to cross into the Arabian Peninsula.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), over 20,000 migrant movements from Ethiopia have been recorded across Djibouti since September 10, even as more than 3,700 individuals fleeing renewed conflict in Yemen arrived along the country’s northern coastal regions, primarily near Obock.
Speaking at a United Nations briefing in Geneva, IOM Chief of Mission in Djibouti Alexandre Coissac highlighted the severe humanitarian pressure placed on local infrastructure, noting that thousands of stranded migrants face severe dehydration, exhaustion, and acute food shortages in arid border zones. Driven by persistent economic hardship, climate stress, and food insecurity across the Horn of Africa, the eastern migration route recorded 152,700 transits in the first quarter of 2026 alone—an 8% year-on-year increase—despite compounding security risks in Yemen, where recent fighting has internally displaced 174,000 people. Fatalities along the passage reached a record 922 in 2025, with an additional 94 deaths or disappearances already documented in early 2026, prompting relief agencies to expand emergency medical aid, food distribution, and voluntary repatriation services across Djibouti’s overcrowded transit facilities.
TE/Sf/lb/abj/APA