ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopia on Tuesday asked citizens to “avoid irregular routes,” two days after a boat carrying mostly Ethiopian migrants sank off Yemen, killing at least 76 and leaving dozens missing.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said 157 people were on board when the vessel sank on Sunday in the Gulf of Aden.
It was headed for the Abyan governorate in southern Yemen, a popular destination for boats smuggling Africans hoping to reach wealthy Gulf states.
“Ethiopia mourns the tragic loss of 60+ (plus) citizens in a maritime disaster off Yemen’s coast,” Ethiopia’s permanent mission in Geneva wrote on X adding that authorities in Addis Ababa are “working with partners to investigate and urges citizens to avoid irregular routes.”
Thousands of Africans travel from Djibouti to Yemen across the Red Sea, hoping to reach oil-rich Gulf states to work as laborers or domestic workers.
Many are from Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, which was ravaged by war between 2020 and 2022.
The Red Sea migrant route is one of the world’s most dangerous, according to IOM, which documented at least 558 deaths last year.
In March, at least 180 people were reported missing off the Yemeni coast, the vast majority of them Ethiopians.
Ethiopians told to ‘avoid irregular routes’ after Yemen disaster
https://arab.news/pre92
Ethiopians told to ‘avoid irregular routes’ after Yemen disaster
Zelensky says Ukraine’s peace talks with US constructive but not easy
- Trump has said that ending Russia’s war in Ukraine, now nearing its fourth year and the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two, remains his toughest foreign policy challenge
KYIV: Talks with US representatives on a peace plan for Ukraine have been constructive but not easy, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday ahead of his planned consultations with European leaders in coming days.
Zelensky held a call on Saturday with US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and is expected to meet French, British and German leaders on Monday in London. Further talks are planned in Brussels.
“The American representatives know the basic Ukrainian positions,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address. “The conversation was constructive, although not easy.”
Trump has said that ending Russia’s war in Ukraine, now nearing its fourth year and the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two, remains his toughest foreign policy challenge.
Despite US mediation and periodic high-level contacts, progress in the peace talks has been slow, with disputes over security guarantees for Kyiv and the status of Russian-occupied territory still unresolved.
Moscow says it is open to negotiations and blames Kyiv and the West for blocking peace, while Ukraine and its allies say Russia is stalling and using diplomacy to entrench its gains.
European leaders have backed a step-by-step diplomatic process for Ukraine, tied to long-term security guarantees and sustained military aid. Trump, however, has focused on rapid deal-making and burden-sharing, and diplomats warn that any talks remain fragile and vulnerable to shifts in US politics.
