Which routes did Somalis take to leave?

Somalis left by five main routes: overland to Kenya and Ethiopia, by boat to Yemen, via Libya to Europe, and south to South Africa. A smaller number flew out on visas or through family reunification.

Kenya and Ethiopia hold most Somali refugees today: 334,733 and 368,165 on 31 October 2026 (UNHCR data portal, 2026).

Which routes are there, in short?

• Overland to Kenya: across the border near Liboi or Mandera to the Dadaab camps (HRW, 2009).
• Overland to Ethiopia: to Hartisheikh and Jijiga in the north, and Dollo Ado in the south (UN News, 2004).
• Djibouti: for people from the north since 1988 (HRW World Report 1990).
• By sea to Yemen: from beaches near Bosaso across the Gulf of Aden (HRW, Hostile Shores, 2009).
• Tahriib to Europe: through Ethiopia, Sudan and Libya, then across the Mediterranean (UNICEF and Rift Valley Institute, 2016).
• South to South Africa: through Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe (ENACT, 2018).
• By air: refugee resettlement, family reunification, study visas.

How did people get to Kenya?

Mostly on foot or by truck, across the land border in the south. Some went by boat down the coast.

UNHCR built the first three Dadaab camps between October 1991 and June 1992 (UNHCR, 2012). They were meant for 90,000 people. By 2012 they held more than 463,000, including about 10,000 third-generation refugees born there.

Kenya closed its border with Somalia on 3 January 2007 (HRW, From Horror to Hopelessness, 2009). UNHCR had to shut its transit centre at Liboi, where new arrivals were registered and checked. People kept crossing: about 60,000 Somali asylum seekers entered Kenya in 2008, roughly 165 a day.

• Smugglers' fees: smugglers charged to carry people from the border to Dadaab; one refugee paid US$500 (HRW, 2009).
• Police: police demanded bribes from new arrivals, detained some and beat some, the same report found.
• Entry points now: Somalis usually enter Kenya at Mandera or Liboi, then go to Dadaab and Garissa, IOM says (Eastleigh Voice, on IOM report).

Some came by sea. Bajuni islanders from near Kismayo fled in 1991 to Jomvu camp near Mombasa, closed in late 1997 (Nurse, review of 2000 report). One Somali Bantu family walked 14 nights along the coast from Kismayo to the Kenyan border (Smithsonian, 2004).

How did people get to Ethiopia?

Across the long land border, in the north and in the south.

• North, from 1988: most refugees at Hartisheikh came from Gabiley and Hargeisa; the camp held over 250,000 at its height (UN News, 2004).
• Jijiga area: in February 2020, Kebribeyah held 14,951 people, Aw Barre 12,120 and Sheder 11,994 (UNHCR Ethiopia update, Feb 2020).
• South, Dollo Ado: five camps by October 2011: Bokolmanyo, Melkadida, Kobe, Hilaweyn and Buramino (UNHCR Dollo Ado update, Oct 2011).

In early October 2011, 2,985 people reached Dollo Ado in eight days (UNHCR, 9 Oct 2011). In February 2020 the five Dollo Ado camps sheltered 159,342 Somali refugees (UNHCR Ethiopia update, Feb 2020). Ethiopia now hosts the largest number of Somali refugees of any country (UNHCR, 2026).

Did Somalis go to Djibouti?

Yes, mainly from the north. Refugees from the north fled to Ethiopia, Djibouti and Yemen as the 1988 war went on (HRW World Report 1990). Djibouti hosted 13,697 Somali refugees on 31 August 2026 (UNHCR, 2026).

How does the sea crossing to Yemen work?

Boats leave from beaches around Bosaso and cross the Gulf of Aden in one to three days (HRW, Hostile Shores, 2009). A Somali study names two main departure points, Mareero near Bosaso and Ceelaayo in Sanaag (Heritage Institute, 2018, in Somali).

Human Rights Watch described these conditions in 2009 (Hostile Shores):

• Price: US$50 to US$80 on the cheapest boats, US$100 to US$150 or more on faster ones.
• Crowding: boats built for 70 to 80 people often carry 150, some up to 250.
• Landing: smugglers often force passengers into deep water hundreds of metres from shore; hundreds have drowned within sight of the beach.
• Deaths: more than 1,000 people died on the crossings from the start of 2008 to late 2009.

Yemen has recognised Somalis as refugees on a group basis, without individual interviews (HRW, 2009). UNHCR had registered about 150,000 Somalis in Yemen by 2009, the report said.

Who uses the Yemen route now?

Mostly Ethiopians, with Somalis a smaller share. In 2019, over 138,000 people crossed to Yemen, and about 92 percent were Ethiopian (IOM, Feb 2020). That year 62 percent left from Somalia and 38 percent from Djibouti. Nearly 90 percent meant to go on to Saudi Arabia.

Arrivals in Yemen rose from about 27,000 in 2021 to more than 90,000 in 2023 (Al Jazeera, June 2024).

In a Somali survey, people in Baidoa called the trip to Saudi Arabia "cheap, low risk and quick" (Heritage Institute, 2018). One person put its cost at about US$500. In Baidoa, 32 percent said family members had gone to Saudi Arabia, against 22 percent in Mogadishu and 19 percent in Beledweyne.

How many have died on the Yemen route?

IOM's Missing Migrants Project has recorded 1,860 deaths and disappearances on the Eastern Route since 2014, including 480 drownings (IOM, 11 June 2024).

On 10 June 2024, a boat from Bosaso with 115 Somalis and 145 Ethiopians sank off Shabwah in Yemen (IOM, 2024). At least 49 people died, including 31 women and six children, and 140 were missing.

What is tahriib?

Tahriib is an Arabic word now common in Somali. It means the dangerous journey to Europe across the Sahara and the Mediterranean (Rift Valley Institute, 2018). A Somali study defines it as a long, risky and irregular journey through many countries (Heritage Institute, 2018).

A 2016 UNICEF study found youth in Puntland and Somaliland regularly leaving for Europe via Ethiopia, Sudan and Libya (Nimo-Ilhan Ali, Going on Tahriib, 2016). Smugglers offered deferred-payment schemes that encouraged them to leave, it found.

Which way does the tahriib route go?

The Heritage Institute surveyed 2,685 people in Kismayo, Baidoa, Mogadishu, Galkacyo, Beledweyne, Bosaso and Burao (Heritage Institute, 2018). It describes these routes:

• Ethiopia, Sudan, Libya, Italy: one of the earliest routes, easiest for people from Somaliland, Puntland and the central regions.
• Kenya to Sudan: used mostly by people from Kismayo and Mogadishu heading for Europe.
• Through Yemen to Sudan: used when Ethiopia tightened its borders; from Sudan, one road leads to Libya and another to Egypt.
• Turkey, then Greece: since 2014, a costlier, less dangerous route, often with travel documents.

Mixed Migration Centre interviews in Libya found 20 of 21 Somalis had come through Sudan (MMC 4Mi snapshot, Feb 2020). Of those 20, 13 passed through Khartoum, 7 through El Fasher and 5 through Dongola.

A newer route runs from Dadaab to Kampala, then South Sudan, then Libya (ISS Today, Sept 2025). Recruiters reach young refugees on WhatsApp and TikTok, the same report says.

How much does tahriib cost, and what is magafe?

Most people in the Heritage survey put the cost of reaching Europe at US$10,000 to US$20,000 (Heritage Institute, 2018). Networks that take migrants to Libya and then demand ransom from parents are called magafe. Their ransoms are not negotiable, the study says.

Families pay by selling what they own:

• Burao, 2017-18: a mother sold her land to pay an US$8,000 ransom for her 17-year-old daughter in Libya (Radio Ergo, Nov 2018).
• Burao, 2017-18: a father sold his house to help pay an US$8,500 ransom for his son, then faced a new US$4,000 demand.
• Survey account: one father was asked for US$3,000, and later US$5,000, while his son was beaten (Heritage Institute, 2018).
• Kenya, 2025: a family paid US$10,000 for a young man, and he was still not freed, a police official said (ISS Today, 2025).

The Magafe group in Libya has been active since 2017, according to the Institute for Security Studies (ISS Today, 2025).

Where did tahriib travellers end up?

In the Heritage survey, 54 percent of people whose relatives had left said those relatives went to Europe (Heritage Institute, 2018). Another 19 percent went to Saudi Arabia, 15 percent to South Africa and 7 percent to the United States.

Italy recorded 6,698 Somali sea arrivals from January to October 2016, down from 11,020 in the same months of 2015 (IOM, Nov 2016). IOM counted 4,655 deaths in the Mediterranean in 2016 up to 20 November, for all nationalities.

Does Somalia bring people back from Libya?

Yes, with EU funding and IOM. In September 2025, 184 Somalis stranded in Libya were flown home: 152 to Mogadishu and 32 to Hargeisa (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2025).

On 2 July 2026, another 129 came home, 19 of them to Hargeisa (Dawan Africa, July 2026). That brought the total for 2026 to nearly 500. One returnee said he spent five months in several detention centres.

How does the southern route to South Africa work?

People travel overland, or by sea to Mozambique and then by road. Ethiopian and Somali migrants pass through Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe (ENACT, May 2018).

• Numbers: an estimated 13,400 to 14,050 Ethiopians and Somalis made the trip in 2017 (ENACT, 2018).
• Cost: smugglers charged about US$2,500 to US$5,000 a journey, by the same report.
• Smugglers: 97 percent of Ethiopians and Somalis interviewed in South Africa in 2014-16 had used them.
• Deaths: in December 2017, the bodies of 13 Somali migrants who had likely suffocated in a container truck were found in Mozambique.

Many young people from Kismayo go to Angola, South Africa and Mozambique, and some move on to the United States or Europe (Heritage Institute, 2018). The same survey put the cost of reaching South Africa at US$2,000 to US$3,000. Cities close to Kenya, like Kismayo, send more people south.

Who left by air?

People with visas, scholarships or a refugee resettlement place. The United States began issuing visas to Somali refugees in 1992 (MNopedia). Others later joined relatives through family sponsorship, the same source says.

• Somali Bantu: the first families flew from Kenya to the United States in May 2003; up to 12,000 were planned (Smithsonian, 2004).
• Mid-2000s: the United States admitted about 10,000 Somalis a year, many through its family reunification programme, known as P-3 (PBS Frontline, 2015).
• Turkey: Turkish scholarships became a path to Europe for some, the Heritage study reports (Heritage Institute, 2018).

What happened to family reunification after 2008?

In early 2008 the US State Department ran DNA tests on 476 family reunification applicants in Nairobi (PBS Frontline, 2015). Only 16 percent matched every relative listed; 39 percent did not match at least one; 45 percent refused or did not appear.

Officials suspended the programme for more than four years. It reopened in 2012 with DNA tests required for parent-child links (Frontline, 2015). Critics said one false result could mark a whole family, and that refusal did not prove fraud.

Who has been sent back?

• Saudi Arabia, 2014: Saudi authorities deported 12,332 Somalis to Mogadishu between 1 January and 3 February 2014 (HRW, 18 Feb 2014). None could claim asylum, and deportees described beatings in detention.
• United States: about 275 Somalis were deported in 2017, and 84 more arrived on two flights in June 2018 (VOA, 29 June 2018).
• Kenya, 2007-09: Human Rights Watch believed hundreds and possibly thousands were sent back after the border closed (HRW, 2009).

How many have returned on their own?

Kenya, Somalia and UNHCR signed an agreement on voluntary return on 10 November 2013 (The Star, Kenya, 2019). The counts differ:

• Kenya's government: about 300,000 Somalis had returned from Kenya since December 2014, said Deputy President William Ruto (The Star).
• UNHCR: 85,904 returnees from Kenya, and 141,673 refugee returnees in total since December 2014 (UNHCR dashboard, Nov 2025).

From Ethiopia, more than 230,000 people returned to the north-west between April 1997 and July 2004 (UN News, 2004). From Yemen, 53,515 have returned since December 2014 (UNHCR, Nov 2025).

Why it matters (Calankii)

Every route on this page has a cost in money and in lives, and families still pay it. Young Somalis deciding their future deserve the full facts about each road, from the people who travelled it. The banner carried since 1895 goes with every Somali, wherever the road leads.

Related pages

• Why did Somalis leave, and when?
• Somali refugees by the numbers
• Kenya
• Ethiopia
• Yemen
• Djibouti
• Saudi Arabia
• South Africa
• Türkiye
• Carried the banner since 1895

Sources

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