UN flight from rebel-held Yemen capital returns 129 migrants

By JACK JEFFERY
Associated Press

CAIRO (AP) — The U.N. has returned 129 Ethiopian migrants stranded in war-torn Yemen to their homeland in its first humanitarian repatriation flight to depart from the rebel-held capital of Sanaa this year. The flight was Tuesday. The U.N.’s migration agency has facilitated the voluntary return of more than 1, 800 mostly East African migrants from Yemen this year. However, all of 2022′s previous returnees flew from airports controlled by Yemen’s internationally recognized government. Yemen’s ruinous conflict began in 2014 when Iran-backed Houthi rebel forces seized Sanaa. A Saudi Arabia-led coalition intervened the next year to try to restore the internationally recognized government to power. African migrants are regularly caught in the crossfire.