UN launches rescue operation after eight migrants die off Djibouti

The UN migration agency said on Wednesday that eight migrants died and 22 others are missing after they were forced off a boat near the coast of Djibouti.
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said in a statement the migrants were part of a group of 150 who were forced by smugglers to disembark a boat and swim to shore on 5 June.
The migrants were found in the desert by IOM patrol teams and taken to a migrant response centre.
The IOM and authorities in Djibouti are continuing with a search and rescue operation to find the missing migrants.
"Every life lost at sea is a tragedy that should never happen," Celestine Frantz, the IOM Regional Director for the East, Horn and Southern Africa, said.
Frantz said that the migrants were "forced into impossible choices by smugglers who show no regard for human life."
Thousands of migrants from African, Middle Eastern and South Asian countries seeking a better life in Europe attempt irregular migration every year.
People smugglers pack vessels full of desperate people willing to risk their lives to reach continental Europe.
Most of the vessels get migrants across the Red Sea to Gulf countries before they proceed further to European nations.
Yemen is a major route for migrants from East Africa and the Horn of Africa trying to reach Gulf countries for work, with hundreds of thousands attempting the route each year.
However Frontex, the EU's external border protection agency, reported a 31% drop in illegal migrant crossings in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the same period one year ago.
Crossings fell to nearly 33,600 with a decline reported across every single route leading to Europe.
A significant drop, around 30%, was observed on the Western African route, which connects Senegal, Mauritania, The Gambia and Western Sahara to Spain's Canary Islands.
Similarly, a 29% fall was reported in crossings along the Eastern Mediterranean route, mostly leading to Cyprus, Greece and Bulgaria from Afghanistan, Sudan and Egypt.
The third sharpest fall, -26%, was on the Central Mediterranean route, from western and central Africa through Niger and Libya across the Central Mediterranean towards Europe, in particular Italy.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

LeMonde

2 days ago

• LeMonde

Belarus opposition leader Siarhei Tsikhanouski freed from jail

A top Belarus opposition leader, Siarhei Tsikhanouski, has been released from jail after being pardoned, Belarusian human rights group Viasna said on Saturday, June 21. His wife, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who took over the opposition cause after his jailing, shared a video of him smiling and embracing her after his release with the caption: "FREE." Tsikhanouski, 46, had been imprisoned for more than five years. Tsikhanouskaya said that officials from the United States had helped secure her husband's release. "It's hard to describe the joy in my heart," she said in a post on X, thanking US President Donald Trump, US envoy Keith Kellogg and European allies. Tsikhanouski had planned to run against incumbent Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko in the August 2020 presidential election, but was arrested and detained weeks before the vote. His wife, Sviatlana, a political novice at the time of his arrest, took his place in the polls. He was sentenced in 2021 to 18 years in prison for "organizing riots" and "inciting hatred" and then to 18 months extra for "insubordination." Belarus, ruled by Lukashenko since 1994, has outlawed all opposition movements and is the only European country to retain the death penalty as a punishment. There are more than 1,000 political prisoners in the country, according to Viasna. According to the Associated Press (AP), the release came just hours after Belarusian authorities announced that Lukashenko met with Trump's envoy Kellogg in Minsk.

France 24

2 days ago

• France 24

Belarus opposition leader Tikhanovsky freed from jail following visit from top Trump envoy

A top Belarus opposition leader, Sergei Tikhanovsky, has been released from jail after being pardoned, Belarusian human rights group Viasna said on Saturday. His wife Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who took over the opposition cause after his jailing, shared a video of him smiling and embracing her after his release with the caption: "FREE". Tikhanovskaya's team said that the popular blogger and activist had arrived in Vilnius, Lithuania, alongside 13 other political prisoners. Tikhanovsky's release came just hours after the Belarusian authorities announced that the country's authoritarian President, Alexander Lukashenko, met with Trump's Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg in Minsk. Tikhanovskaya said Saturday that officials from the United States had helped secure her husband's release. "It's hard to describe the joy in my heart," she said in a post on X, thanking US President Donald Trump, US envoy Keith Kellogg and European allies. Belarus marks one year since disputed presidential election 02:04 Tikhanovsky, 46, had been imprisoned for more than five years. He planned to run against Lukashenko in the August 2020 presidential election, but was arrested and detained weeks before the vote. His wife Svetlana – a political novice at the time of his arrest – took his place in the polls. He was sentenced in 2021 to 18 years in prison for "organising riots" and "inciting hatred" and then to 18 months extra for "insubordination". Belarus, ruled by Lukashenko since 1994, has outlawed all opposition movements and is the only European country to retain the death penalty as a punishment. There are more than 1,000 political prisoners in the country, according to Viasna.

France 24

2 days ago

• France 24

African civil society unconvinced by Meloni, Von Der Leyen investment plan

In Rwanda, opposition leader Victoire Ingabire has been arrested once again. A rare and outspoken critic of President Paul Kagame, she was taken into custody yesterday – just after appearing in a case involving nine people accused of distributing a book by Serbian author Popovic, 'How to Topple a Dictator', which outlines peaceful resistance to authoritarian rule. Ingabire's lawyers say this is a politically motivated move to silence dissent. Cameroon has been without cinema halls for years now. To bridge this gap and make African cinema available to all, the Cinémathèque Afrique deployed a caravan to screen a selection of iconic works from its about 1,500 catalogue. The project, which relies on the mobile digital cinema, aims to showcase African films in regions where movie theatres do not exist, mainly in villages and disadvantaged neighbourhoods.