IOM repatriated over 200 Ethiopians from Yemen

By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

March 23, 2012 (ADDIS ABABA) – Some 279 Ethiopian migrants who had been stranded in the gulf state of Yemen have returned home with the help of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

The IOM has faced a chronic budget shortage this year and says it does not have the resources to continue it’s mission in Yemen despite thousands of Ethiopians remaining stranded there.

In a statement last week, IOM said it will suspend the Yemen mission until new funds are secured to enable the repatriation operation to continue.

The IOM has successfully repatriated over 6,000 Ethiopian migrants this year but this will be its final air evacuation to Ethiopian migrants unless further finance is received.

Currently there are more than 12,000 migrants from the Horn Africa, mostly from Ethiopia, who are languishing in Haradh, Yemen’s border town with Saudi Arabia.

Despite repeated requests for aid this year, donors have failed to grant new funds. Last December, the IOM appealed for $2.6 million to help the refugees.

The IOM had been carrying out the evacuation operation in collaboration with Ethiopia.

Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the country will continue to put relentless efforts to return its citizens from Gulf States plagued with political unrest.

According to the IOM, most of the migrants in Yemen are suffering from infectious diseases. They are in danger from violence and intimidation from smugglers. Some migrants were subjected to torture imparted by human traffickers, while others have been caught up in Yemen’s conflict.

Every year tens of thousands of illegal migrants from East Africa risk their lives making the dangerous journey via the Gulf of Aden to Yemen in the hope of finding jobs in Saudi Arabia. Most of them are forced back by Saudi due their illegal status.

(ST)