Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Somalian refugees forbidden to go ashore in Yemen Date: Tue, 17 Nov 92 15:07:56 EST Message-ID: \SE A;WORLD \SS (WS) \HD Somalian refugees forbidden to go ashore in Yemen \BY Eric Watkins \CR ASSOCIATED PRESS \DT SAN'A, Yemen SAN'A, Yemen - A ship crowded with 2,500 Somalian refugees limped into a remote Yemeni port yesterday, where they received their first food and water in several days but were forbidden to go ashore. There was no immediate confirmation of reports that as many as 100 people might have died during the ship's harrowing six-day, 1,200-mile voyage from Somalia with little or no food or water. Yemeni officials ordered the Samaa-1 to take its passengers on from Mukalla to Yemen's main port, Aden, some 300 miles to the southwest, where U.N. workers were putting up tents and digging latrines on the beach for the refugees. The authorities said Mukalla was not equipped to handle the Somalis. U.N. officials in Geneva said the refugee ship might stay at Mukalla for several days. But French naval officials in Paris said the Samaa-1 sailed last night and was accompanied by the French corvette Commandant Ducuing, which arrived from Djibouti with emergency food, water and medicine. They said the Samaa's captain had not asked for any of the French supplies. The refugees reportedly were given fish, flour and milk from Mukalla. About 100 of them were reported to be very sick, said Sylvana Foa, a spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee agency in Geneva, which provides aid for Somalis in Yemen. She said she had no official word on whether any refugees had died. Earlier, sources in Yemen put the death toll as high as 100. The ship's owner, the Pakistani-owned Samaa Asia Shipping of Dubai, said 10 or 11 children had died. By supplying food and water, the Yemenis sought to avert a repeat of a June tragedy in which desperate Somalis forced a ship to ground offshore after being denied permission to dock at Aden. At least 150 died, either from starvation and dehydration or from drowning trying to swim ashore. Thousands of Somalis have fled clan fighting and a famine in their country that have killed at least 300,000 people since January. Two million more are said to be on the verge of starvation. Yemeni authorities have agreed to accept Somalian refugees, provided the United Nations takes care of them. An estimated 62,000 are in Yemen, many of whom sailed north across the Arabian Sea in small boats. Ms. Foa said Yemeni officials made clear they would not let anyone on the Samaa-1 go ashore until the ship reached Aden. Ms. Foa said about 2,500 refugees were aboard. Earlier accounts had said as many as 3,000 people were crammed aboard the vessel. The refugees include about 400 children. Toufiq Ouanes, a U.N. refugee official in San'a, Yemen's capital, said the 1,600-ton Samaa-1 entered Mukalla about 1 p.m. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM