For many right now, though, Ataq is where the journey ends. The road north passes multiple front lines and is often closed due to clashes. This year, COVID-19 has made it even more difficult to continue onwards. Life has become a waiting game: People can’t complete their journeys, but they also can’t afford to go back home, even if they would consider it.

Shifting routes

The route to Ataq from Ethiopia – where 85 percent of Yemen’s migrants are from (the rest are mostly Somalis) – is long, hard, and often dangerous.

Most people travel overland from Ethiopia to Bosaso, a port in northeastern Somalia. From there, they catch boats (the trips can take up to day) to Bir Ali, a village on Shabwa’s southern coast. Then it’s a two-day (non-stop) walk or – for those who can afford it – a five-hour drive, to Ataq.

All of this is usually only possible through smuggling networks, which add the risks of kidnapping and extortion to the harsh terrain and perilous sea crossings. 

The other main route – crossing the Gulf of Aden from Djibouti into Yemen’s western Lahj province, then following the coast up to Saudi Arabia – has become less popular these days, says Saleh Mehdi, who works at STEPS, a local NGO that monitors migrant flows. This route requires passing through Hodeidah province, which has seen flare-ups in fighting between the Houthi rebels, who control the country’s north, and the internationally recognised government of President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi and its allies, which run the south. The largely exiled government is backed by a Saudi Arabia-led coalition.