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For some fleeing conflict, even Yemen is a haven

Thousands of Africans fleeing the misery in their countries continue to seek refuge in Yemen, which itself is suffering the ravages of civil war.
Ethiopian migrants sleep out in the open near a transit centre where they wait to be repatriated, in the western Yemeni town of Haradh, on the border with Saudi Arabia, May 21, 2013. Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah in April ordered a three-month delay to a crackdown on migrant workers which has led to thousands of deportations, to give foreigners in the kingdom a chance to sort out their papers. More than 200,000 foreigners have been deported from the country over the past few months. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah (

SANAA, Yemen — One of the most striking paradoxes generated by war and migration in the Middle East is that the war in Yemen, raging since the spring of 2015, has not scared off boats packed with African immigrants heading toward this impoverished country.

Africans fleeing the despair and hell of conflicts on the other side of the Red Sea, in Somalia, Djibouti and Eritrea, still flock to Yemen, which is also plagued by misery and a bloody armed conflict.

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