Somalia hosts over 35,000 refugees, asylum-seekers – UNHCR

Somalia is hosting 35,381 refugees and asylum-seekers, 69 percent of them women and children, the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Wednesday.

According to the UNHCR, 18,932, or 54 percent, of them are asylum-seekers while 16,449, or 46 percent, are refugees.

The majority of refugees and asylum-seekers, 23,660, or 66.9 percent, are from Ethiopia, followed by Yemen, 10,141, or 28.7 percent, and Syria, 1,278, or 3.6 percent, according to figures released by the UNHCR in its latest update on Somalia as of March 31.

According to the UN refugee agency, 75 percent of refugees and asylum-seekers reside in urban or peri-urban settings across Woqooyi Galbeed and Bari regions, in northern Somalia.

The UNHCR said Tuesday that it has begun relocation of newly arrived Somali refugees in Ethiopia who fled recurring clashes in Las Anod in northern Somalia. It said 1,036 of the most vulnerable people have been transferred from border areas to a new settlement over the past few days.

(Xinhua/NAN)