Arabs on the oil-rich Persian Gulf don’t like to do real work.  They hire lots of foreigners to do the hardest, dirtiest work.  That still looks like a good opportunity to many people in developing countries.[1]  East Africa sends many employment-seekers to the Gulf. 

            Getting there can be difficult, uncomfortable, and dangerous.  The uncomfortable part comes in long trips.  Much of these parts of the journey take place in the backs of trucks.  Another part of the route is across the Red Sea from the Republic of Djibouti to Taiz Governorate (or province) in Yemen.  Recently, a boatload of migrants capsized, leaving all aboard dead or missing.[2]  In addition to the Yemeni captain and his deckhand, there were 25 Ethiopians.  Ethiopia being land-locked, it was their first time at sea. 

            There is a good chance that they were coming out of the port of Obock in northeastern Djibouti, or perhaps Moulhoule 40 miles farther north.[3]  Djibouti, the main port of the country of Djibouti,[4] is farther south.  It is home to a whole bunch of foreign naval bases.  They pay high rents to the crooked dictator of the country.  So, too many prying eyes for a smuggling operation.  Obock is better: remote from the main port, difficult to access by road,[5] and closer to Yemen. 

            Still, everyone knows that Obock is the port of departure for many African migrants trying to cross to the Arabian peninsula.  The International Organization for Migration maintains a Transit Center there.  The walls are festooned with murals warning of the dangers of both the sea-crossing and the trip in general.[6]  The smugglers use a range of vessels.  Some of them are fairly large, spending part of their working lives fishing well off-shore.[7]  Others are much smaller, meant for in-shore fishing.  One or two big outboard engines provide power. 

            The voyage could run up the coast of Djibouti, across to the Arabian peninsula in the area of the Bab-al-Mandab straits, and then up the coast of Yemen.  This is something like 100 miles, Mean daytime temperatures run at 100 degrees.  The chance of being accidentally run-down at night by a merchant ship on the Suez Canal-Indian Ocean route is very real. 

Taiz Governorate is in the southwestern corner of Yemen.  Much of the governorate is rocky highlands, but it also includes the port of Mocha on the Red Sea.  Mocha long prospered from the coffee trade, but eventually lost out to competitors.  Since 2015, a civil war between Houthis and the government has racked Yemen.  Mocha has been fought over and damaged.  Today, fishing and smuggling provide the chief mainstays of the economy.[8]  Boat crews shift easily between those trades. 

Many people live on a cliff’s edge that I cannot imagine. 

---

[1] For the basics of this grim, fascinating story, see Migrant workers in the Gulf Cooperation Council region – Wikipedia 

[2] Associated Press, “Boat Carrying Migrants Sinks,” WSJ, 26 August 2024.  Ninety-one words. 

[3] Obock provided a long-term base and home to the French adventurer Henri de Montfried.  Henry de Monfreid – Wikipedia 

[4] In pre-colonial times ruled by the Sheikh Djibouti. 

[5] I kid you not.  See: Djibouti Traffic Safety while traveling. – CountryReports 

[6] For example, IOM murals in Obock, Djibouti | Murals at the International … | Flickr ; and IOM mural warning of the dangers | A mural at the Internatio… | Flickr 

[7] One captured by the Djiboutian Coast Guard, is seen riding at anchor in Obock harbor: Smuggler boats in Obock, Djibouti | Five of the 60 boats cap… | Flickr 

[8] See This Yemeni Town Went From Coffee King to Smuggler’s Haven (thedailybeast.com)