Observador cites the UN for 'more than 100,000' fleeing Yemen; UN News says 'thousands' reached Djibouti

Two counts, maybe of different things. Observador, a Portuguese paper, says the UN puts the number who fled Yemen at "more than 100,000". UN News, the UN's own news service, gives no total. It says only that "thousands have sought shelter" in Djibouti.

Where the figure sits. Observador's number is one line at the end of a report about a US sale of F-35 jets to Saudi Arabia. It gives no time period.

What UN News adds. It is the only report we hold with accounts from displaced people. They describe "fleeing for their lives amid shelling and gunfire". It does not name the aid agencies.

What is not settled

• Whether the 100,000 includes the thousands in Djibouti.
• Over what period the 100,000 left.
• Which UN body gave the figure. The UN News report we hold does not carry it.
• Who is doing the shelling. Neither report says.
• We hold only two reports on this, so we cannot say how widely it was covered.

What this is about. People are leaving Yemen because of fighting there. Some are crossing the sea to Djibouti.

How it got here. Yemen's war began in 2014. That September the Houthis, an armed movement from the north, took the capital, Sanaa. The internationally recognised government fled south. In March 2015 Saudi Arabia led a coalition of Arab states into the war on the government's side. The United States and others sold arms to the coalition. A UN-brokered truce in April 2022 cut the fighting sharply. It formally expired in October 2022, but full-scale war did not return and no peace deal followed. From late 2023, after the war in Gaza began, the Houthis attacked ships in the Red Sea. That story has drawn far more coverage than the war inside Yemen.

Who is in it. The Houthis hold Sanaa and most of the populous north. The recognised government and its partners hold much of the south. Those partners include the Southern Transitional Council, a southern separatist group. Saudi Arabia backs the government. Djibouti sits across the Bab al-Mandab, the narrow strait at the mouth of the Red Sea. It is the nearest foreign shore for many Yemenis. The UN runs the main aid effort and has led the peace talks.

What is at stake. Yemen was already one of the world's largest aid emergencies. More fighting means more people needing help, both inside Yemen and in Djibouti, a small country.

Where it stands. The two reports we hold speak of "renewed fighting" and "internal conflicts". Neither says where the fighting is or who started it. We hold no report that does.