Gov’t working to Repatriate Ethiopians from Tanzania in Collaboration with Int’l Institutions: Ambassador Shibru

Addis Ababa January 16/2023 (ENA)The government of Ethiopia is working in collaboration with pertinent international institutions to repatriate Ethiopian migrants who are in prisons in Tanzania, Ethiopian ambassador to Tanzania disclosed.

Tanzania and Malawi are on the “Southern Migration Route”, used by mainly Ethiopian migrants traveling to South Africa to find work cheated by migrant smugglers.

Most of these migrants have also been arrested by authorities of the countries through which they attempt to transit whose journeys are characterized by various harsh experiences including death.

The Ethiopian migrants that ended up in the prisons of Tanzania and Malawi are to be mentioned in this regard.

Ethiopian Ambassador to Tanzania, Shibru Mamo told ENA that significant number of Ethiopian youth have been going through very harsh situations in their journey to enter South Africa illegally.

He mentioned that some 5,000 Ethiopian migrants had been arrested and imprisoned by the government of Tanzania at various times while attempting to enter South Africa through Malawi's border.

The ambassador said that some 1,099 Ethiopian migrants that were in Tanzanian prisons have been repatriated to their motherland this year in an operation carried out in collaboration with IOM.

He also indicated the efforts being undertaken by the government will be further intensified to repatriate the Ethiopian migrants from Tanzania in partnership with IOM.

In order to sustainably prevent human trafficking an agreement has been reached with the countries to carry out strict control work in the border between Kenya and Ethiopia, as well as on the border of Kenya and Tanzania, he pointed out.

Other activities will also be carried out with a view to mitigating this illegal act by creating domestic jobs, the ambassador said.