Ethiopia evacuates citizens in Libya after ISIS mass slaughter

May 7, 2015 (ADDIS ABABA) – The Ethiopian government has started repatriating hundreds of its citizens from Libya who wish to return home. The evacuation is in response to last month’s killings of 30 Ethiopian Christian migrants in Libya by the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) group.

The Ethiopian government was conducting the repatriation operation in collaboration with Sudanese and Egyptian governments and its embassies in these countries.

On Wednesday a first group of 13 Ethiopian migrants arrived in the capital, Addis Ababa. The migrants were returning home via neighbouring Sudan.

Ethiopian foreign minister, Tedros Adhanom, said his country will continue with its efforts to facilitate and make sure the safe return of Ethiopians from Libya as part of the ongoing efforts to protect citizens from terror attacks.

Adhanom said some 300 citizens have so far registered at Khartoum and Cairo embassies and are expected to return home in the coming days.

Separately, the Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi Thursday received at Cairo airport 27 Ethiopians freed by the Egyptian security in Libya.

In a statement released Sisi said the Ethiopian had been abducted by the terrorist group and rescued by an Egyptian commandos force but no details were available about the circumstances of the operation.

The horn of Africa’s country is also evacuating hundreds of its nationals from crises-hit Yemen and from South Africa.

Last month, the terrorist group in Libya released on line a 29-minute long shocking video showing the beheading and shootings of some 30 Ethiopian Christian migrants.

Following the attacks hundreds and thousands of angered Ethiopians took to the streets in Addis Ababa in a rally organized by the government to denounce what they said was a barbaric act by ISIS and to show solidarity with the families of the victims.

(ST)