A/HRC/10/85 page 10 continued to employ hit-and-run guerrilla tactics, namely ambush and mortar attacks, using the civilian population as cover. The response of the TFG and Ethiopian forces, according to them, has continued to be unrestrained with indiscriminate retaliatory mortar and rocket attacks as well as artillery fires on populated neighbourhoods. They also employ indiscriminate violence during house-to-house searches for weapons and insurgents. 23. The refugees confirmed the general knowledge that the humanitarian situation in Somalia has deteriorated dramatically in recent months. This was also corroborated by refugee officials who have interviewed other refugees. Most of the people I talked to spoke about increasing success of the insurgents in bringing more and more Somali territory under their control, putting the TFG and Ethiopian forces virtually on the run. Many of them told me that they feared further chaos if the Ethiopian troops withdraw and the insurgents take over. Even in Mogadishu and Baidoa, where the TFG still had some control with the help of Ethiopian troops, there is an appearance of a state of siege. B. Visits to Sana’a and Aden, Yemen 24. This was my first trip to Yemen as the independent expert on the situation of human rights in Somalia. In both Sana’a and Aden, UNHCR had organized a series of meetings with refugees from Somalia, most of whom were new arrivals. All those I talked to had arrived in Yemen on smugglers’ boats. In Aden I met with a number of refugees who had arrived only a few weeks ago. Apart from what they told me about conditions of life in Somalia which impelled them to leave the country, the descriptions they gave me on their crossing the Gulf of Aden were horrifying and would be etched in my mind for a long time. 25. In my long career as a UNHCR official before my retirement some 10 years ago, I have dealt with many painful humanitarian situations. My memories of the suffering of the Vietnamese boat people are still fresh. But what I heard about the traumatic experiences of men, women and children who crossed the Gulf of Aden in overcrowded fishing boats for safety to Yemen has overshadowed those memories. 26. I am told that a documentary movie has been made by a French journalist/film-maker on the inhuman conditions of the journey that refugees normally undertake to arrive, dead or alive, on the shores of Yemen. The film-maker was on the journey he filmed. I have not watched the movie but I spoke with some survivors of similar journeys. Listening to them was a painful experience. They demonstrated for me how they were made to sit in rows on a small boat, pressing their knees onto their chests, with no space to move around during the entire trip. The total ban on movement on board is also imposed to ensure safety since any abrupt movement may unbalance the boat and cause it to capsize. In the absence of any other alternative, the passengers had to meet the calls of nature while seated at the same place. The trip lasts an average of 36 hours. It was difficult for me to imagine how more than 100 persons in an overcrowded boat, not fit to accommodate even half that number, are able to survive such a choppy ride, mostly in total darkness of the night. I was told that most of the people arriving after such unhygienic, sardine-like rides develop severe skin diseases and have to remain prone on the beach to slowly regain their ability to stretch their legs out.