Yemen has launched urgent measures to combat the on-foot movements of African refugees among its cities amid warnings the persistent influx of African refugees is a key reason for illegal activities and the spread of pandemics.
Yemen hosts more than one million African refugees, mostly from Somalia and other horn of Africa countries, and it continues to receive many refugees a day.
The exodus adds to the economic woes in the poorest country in the region, which is struggling to cope with an unprecedented humanitarian crisis affecting half of the population.
The interior ministry reported the police in eight provinces have been ordered to arrest Africans who travel inside the country on foot, in what appears to be an effort to tackle one of the reasons for illegal groups amid an ongoing war against militancy.
According to locals in coastal cities and the authorities, some African refugees arrive at Yemeni coasts but they are not registered and sent to the refugee camps. Instead, they travel on foot and infiltrate into main cities.
There are special places in the provinces of Baidha, Sanaa, Saada, Hajjah and other coastal cities including Hadramout where the Africans should stay, the ministry said.
The UN has said that tens of thousands of Africans, about 50.000, have reached the country in the first half of this year, expecting the exodus could increase in the future.
Africans flee the deteriorating humanitarian situations and conflicts in their countries crossing the sea to Yemen, the poorest country in the region.
Besides the African refugees, Yemen hosts more than 500,000 internally displaced persons due to conflicts in the south and the north.