UN sources have revealed on Tuesday that there is a link between the capsizing of a ship that was carrying African refugees off the Coast of Yemen, and an intensive Emirati campaign to resettle Africans in Yemeni areas under its control, Yemen News Portal Reported.
The sources pointed out that the ship that sank in the Bab al-Mandab Strait earlier Monday, with 250 Ethiopian refugees on board, was supervised by Emirati officers in coordination with human trafficking smugglers.
The sources said that the campaign comes as part of a recruitment process in which the UAE aims to deploy more mercenaries on the island of Mayyun.
The UAE has established a military base on the island, amid the refusal of local people to evacuate the island in exchange for money, amounting to one million Saudi riyals, and houses in the city of Tariq in Mocha.
In recent days, the Yemeni coast has witnessed an unprecedented influx of African refugees.
Most of the arrivals are dropped off at smuggling centers in Lahj and then transported in containers to Aden, the main stronghold of pro-UAE factions, before being redeployed to various areas in southern Yemen as settlers.
Although the recruitment of refugees by the coalition is not the first such act since the Saudi-led war began seven years ago, its timing indicates a plan to enforce a demographic change at the expense of the local Yemenis.
This policy is similar to the forced change brought about by the British occupation in Aden during the colonial era, when Indians and Africans were settled in city.
