"This is the first food I've eaten in four days," says Habiba Hassan, a 17 year old Somali refugee, as she eats a biscuit in the back of the truck. Hassan, and 150 others have spent the last two days crossing the Sea of Aden, fleeing war in Somalia.
The refugees are bussed from their landing spot at Bab al-Mandeb, to the refugee camp at Kharaz, two hours away. They are greeted by fellow Somalis hoping to find newly-arrived friends and family.
New arrivals receive meal ration cards to see them through the first few days. The UN says nearly 20,000 refugees arrived from the Horn of Africa in the first four months of 2009.
The refugees benefit from some of the 4,000 tons of dates that Saudi Arabia donates to UN World Food Programme activities in Yemen every year.
This child is suffering from heat exhaustion after the journey across the Sea of Aden. Young children are especially vulnerable to the sun, and water is difficult to come by when they arrive in Yemen.
Yemen faces extreme water shortages, so refugees add to the pressure on the scant resource. Water supplies in Yemen's aquifers are being exhausted faster than they can be renewed.
Somali children whose education was interrupted by war, can start again in Yemen. Ramah Ismail, whose favourite subject is Maths, says "I haven't been to school for three years, and now I can... I like Yemen."
Intense fighting in Somalia means more and more refugees risk the exhausting sea crossing to Yemen. The ICRC says nearly 500 new refugees are arriving every week. All photos: � Micah Albert
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