Approximately 1,400 Yemeni refugees arrived in Djibouti within a 24-hour period, according to Ilyas Moussa Dawaleh, Djibouti’s economy and finance minister, as Houthi fighters tighten their grip on the Bab al-Mandeb strait. The rapid displacement follows a military offensive that has seen Houthi forces seize the Red Sea port city of Mocha and overrun surrounding coastal districts and islands.
Maritime Crossings and Coastal Arrivals
Minister Ilyas Moussa Dawaleh confirmed the surge in arrivals on X on Saturday, writing that “1,400 refugees arrived in Djibouti from Yemen in just 24 hours.” In a separate post on Friday, the minister detailed that 500 of those refugees had reached the coastal city of Obock, including women and children. Those individuals required rescue at sea after their boats ran out of fuel while traversing the Bab-el-Mandeb strait.
Obock sits roughly 20 kilometers, or 12 miles, across the water from the Yemeni coast and has long served as a primary landing point for people escaping the ongoing conflict in Yemen. The Bab-el-Mandeb strait simultaneously functions in the opposite direction for migrants from the Horn of Africa, who frequently transit through Yemen en route to Gulf countries.
Safiya Ibrahim, humanitarian response coordinator for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), told AFP that “vulnerable groups such as women and children have reached the shores of Obock, with more expected in the coming days.”
Wider Displacement Across Yemen
The latest maritime arrivals correspond with a broader inland displacement crisis driven by the recent escalation of fighting. On Friday, the IOM warned that at least 46,000 people had been displaced across Yemen since the offensive intensified.
“Families are being forced to flee for the second or third time in this conflict, with almost nothing left,” Amy Pope, the IOM director general, said in a statement. “As fighting spreads, reaching people with lifesaving assistance is becoming harder. We urgently need safe, unimpeded access.”
According to field reports, the Houthi offensive has caused entire villages to empty out across several districts, including Maqbanah, Jabal Habashi, and al-Maafer.
Djibouti continues to manage tens of thousands of displaced individuals. Figures published by the United Nations Refugee Agency in March 2026 indicate a registered population exceeding 36,000 refugees and asylum seekers in the country, with the majority originating from Somalia, Ethiopia, and Yemen.
