A second group of Sudanese refugees, most of whom are fleeing strife-torn Darfur, have been evacuated from perilous circumstances in Iraq to a groundbreaking transit centre in Romania, from which they hope to be resettled in the United States, the United Nations refugee agency reported today.

Over 50,000 people fleeing war and poverty made the nearly always perilous and sometimes deadly voyage in smugglers’ boats across the Gulf of Aden from Somalia last year, a 70 per cent increase over 2007, the United Nations refugee agency reported today. At least 590 drowned, often at the hands of the smugglers, and nearly 360 others went missing.