Debris from perilous crossings scatter northern Djibouti’s remote beaches, which now form part of a major global migrant smuggling route

Ben Farmer

Africa Correspondent,

in Khor Angar

Show biography

Ben is based in South Africa and also works on The Telegraph's Global Health Security team. He spent five years in Kabul covering the Afghanistan war, five years as Defence Correspondent in London, and four years in Islamabad

Published 17 October 2026 6:00am BST

The fishing village of Khor Angar does not look like a site on one of the world’s main maritime migrant smuggling routes.

Nestled between the desert and the Red Sea, the whitewashed buildings seem to slumber in the searing heat and give no indication of the life-and-death drama witnessed along this coastline.

Maps claim there is a road from the town of Obock 40 miles away, but the occasional cars and bikes must instead venture over baked sand and mudflats to get there.…