Djibouti — Migration Trends Dashboard (March 2022)

In March 2022, 16,044 movements were observed at the Flow Monitoring Points (FMPs) in Djibouti, representing a daily average of 518 movements. Migration flows increased by only 5 per cent compared to the month of February 2022, during which an average of 544 movements had been registered daily. It is worth highlighting that migration flows have not yet reached preCOVID-19 levels (between March 2019 and March 2020, the daily average was 654). Of these 16,044 movements, 2,812 (18%) were observed in Obock. This coastal region of Djibouti is the main gateway for migrants going to and returning from the Arabian Peninsula. Migrants regroup at congregation points in the Obock region where they then cross the Gulf of Aden on boats along what is known as the Eastern route. From January to June 2020, the number of entries observed from Djibouti’s western borders decreased by 99 per cent due to the closure of Ethiopian borders. Since Djibouti and Ethiopia resumed land services in July 2020, the number of entries from Ethiopia has increased sharply. They went from 1,307 movements in July 2020 to 9,649 in March 2022. In addition, 12,378 Ethiopian nationals have returned from Yemen since January 2021. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, these movements were mainly due to mobility restrictions imposed in Yemen and Saudi Arabia. Subsequently, the progressive deterioration of living conditions in Yemen also triggered growing numbers of spontaneous returns. Following a steady decrease in returns from Yemen observed since August 2021 due to several concurrent factors, this figure has been continuously increasing since the beginning of the year with 452 movements in January 2022 then 590 in February 2022 and reached 789 in March 2022.