(AKI) - Yemen, the impoverished Arab country on the edge of the Persian Gulf, has been inundated by a wave of illegal immigrants in 2008. More than 37,000 immigrants have arrived in Yemen so far this year from the Horn of Africa, compared with nearly 23,000 in 2007, the United Nations refugee agency said on Tuesday.
A total of 616 people died or were reported missing compared with 900 last year. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said a total of 3,737 people arrived in Yemen this month, while 95 were reported dead or missing.
UNHCR said it supports the government of Yemen's call to the international community and its organisations to help it handle the humanitarian crisis. The crisis has been caused by growing population movements out of the Horn of Africa and the resumption of people smuggling across the gulf of Aden from the Horn of Africa - primarily Somalis but also Ethiopians, Eritreans and other nationalities, UNHCR said.
However, the agency said it is seeking a 'clarification' concerning recent statements by the Yemeni Interior Ministry that Eritreans and Ethiopians will be denied access to the country.
UNHCR urged Yemen to maintain its commitments under the 1951 Refugee Convention and 1967 Protocol, to which it is a signatory. Yemen grants refugee status to Somalis and has until now allowed non-Somalis arriving there to seek asylum, UNHCR said. 
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