Stranded Ethiopian Migrants Besiege Migrant Response Centre in Djibouti

Djibouti May 03 2013 (SDN) -The Migrant Response Centre (MRC) of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Djibouti is struggling to cope with increased numbers of stranded migrants from Ethiopia asking for transport assistance to return home, IOM said.It said that 7,137 migrants was registered by the MRC in Djiboiti in the first quarter of 2013; a 79 per cent rise compared to the same period in 2012. In a statement obtained by PANA here Friday, IOM is therefore appealing for US$6 million from donors to continue to provide assistance to vulnerable migrants in Djibouti. In 2012, IOM voluntarily repatriated 59 vulnerable Ethiopian migrants. Between January and April this year, it has already helped 246 to return home. Most Ethiopian migrants plan to travel from Djibouti to Yemen and then cross into Saudi Arabia. But changes in Saudi labour laws restricting the employment of foreign workers, as well as the fencing off of the 1,800 km Saudi-Yemeni border by the Saudi authorities, have made their plans nearly impossible.   The changes have also affected the smugglers and traffickers who provide the boats allowing the migrants to cross the Gulf of Aden. As hundreds of migrants continue to arrive in Obock (Djibouti), the main Gulf of Aden crossing point to Yemen, a backlog of hundreds of migrants is building up. Djibouti is the main transit country for irregular migrants crossing the Gulf of Aden en route to the Gulf States and beyond. Last year, some 108,000 migrants arrived in Yemen from the Horn of Africa, of whom some 84,000 transited through Djibouti.

PANA