Yemen's gov't calls for international probe into migrant detention center fire
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E-mail Xinhua, March 10, 2021
ADEN, Yemen, March 9 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's government on Tuesday called for international investigation into a deadly fire at a migrant detention facility in the country's capital Sanaa.
According to a brief statement released by the state-run Saba News Agency, Yemen's Information Minister Muammar Iryani strongly condemned "the horrific crime committed in a detention center for the African immigrants."
He said that "the incident occurred after launching a crackdown campaign by the Houthi militia that arrested African migrants from the city's streets and public markets, offering them the choice of joining the fighting or facing imprisonment and deportation."
The pro-government Yemeni minister demanded "an international, transparent and independent investigation to uncover the details behind the deadly incident and holding perpetrators accountable."
On Sunday, a fire erupted at an overcrowded detention centre affiliated with the Passports and Naturalisation Authority complex in Sanaa, which is controlled by the Houthi militia.
In a statement issued on Monday evening, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said at least eight people were killed, while it said the exact death toll remained unconfirmed.
An official of Sanaa's local authorities told Xinhua on condition of anonymity that "the initial death toll caused by the blaze indicated that nearly 60 people were killed and 100 others injured most of them Ethiopian immigrants."
The officer said victims of the fire included both African migrants and facility staff.
According to the official, the facility was specified for holding migrants who entered the country "illegally" before the procedure of deportation starts.
According to the IOM, Yemen remains a transit country for tens of thousands of migrants travelling between the Horn of Africa and Saudi Arabia despite years of war.
The organization estimated that the number of migrants arriving in Yemen fell from more than 138,000 in 2019 to just more than 37,500 in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Yemen has been mired in civil war since late 2014 when Houthi rebels seized control of several northern provinces and forced the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of Sanaa. The Saudi-led coalition intervened in the Yemeni conflict in March 2015 to support Hadi's government. Enditem
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