UN agency seeks release of over 3,000 migrants held in Yemen

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) called on Tuesday for the release of more than 3,000 migrants, who it said remain held in inhumane conditions in two detention centers in southern Yemen.

The detentions began two weeks ago in the city of Aden and the neighboring province of Lahj, which are under the control of the internationally-recognized government backed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Some 3,000 migrants, mainly Ethiopians, continue to be held in two temporary detention sites in Yemen’s Aden and Abyan governorates, IOM spokesman Joel Millman said in Geneva.

They include about 2,500 held in a football stadium in Aden, where aid workers are fighting disease outbreaks, Reuters quoted him as saying. IOM is planning to evacuate 237 Ethiopians to Addis Ababa under its voluntary repatriation program.