Djibouti - The International Organization for Migration has assisted 494 Ethiopian migrants to return from Yemen and Djibouti in April alone.

This week, IOM assisted 99 stranded Ethiopian migrants to return from Djibouti and 77 from Yemen via Khartoum, Sudan. The 77 returnees were evacuated to Ethiopia as IOM resumed humanitarian evacuation of Third Country Nationals (TCNs) out of Yemen on Tuesday 28 April after over a week of suspension announced. But due to aerial bombing of the Sana’a runway after Tuesday’s flight, further flights scheduled for this week are now on hold.

The 99 migrants from Djibouti include 25 Unaccompanied Minors who were stranded on their way to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The migrants who couldn’t make it across Gulf of Aden because of higher fees and the situation in Yemen deteriorating ended up stranded in Obock, Djibouti.

Fifteen year-old Hassen was among the returnees. Leaving his fourth grade class studies, the teenager convinced his family to help him go to the Middle East. However, that support did not come cheap for his family.

“My parents had to sell a cow and a piece of land to come up with 12,000 birr (USD 600) required by the broker,” he said. “My family spent all they had to support my dream of going to the Middle East and making it big.”

Mustafa is also one of the unaccompanied minors who returned. The 13 year-old convinced his parents to support his journey to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

“My family was not happy at the beginning but after a while they agreed to pay the 10,000 Birr (USD 500) requested by the smuggler,” said Mustafa. “The journey was hard, we were hungry and thirsty. We were on the road for a long time. Even worse, the broker disappeared after collecting his money from all of us at the border in Djibouti.”

Just like most of the migrants who returned, Hassen and Mustafa were clueless about the situation in Yemen.

“We only heard about the situation after we reached Djibouti. It was not possible to cross to Yemen so we reported to the Red Cross who took us to IOM and facilitated our return,” said Hassen.

Both Hassen and Mustafa said they had been lured by migrant brokers and friends who are who are currently in Saudi Arabia.

Two months and half after their journey begun, the two are heading home.

IOM in Djibouti is providing migrants with emergency health checks and assistance before their onward transportation.

Working with partners, IOM is conducting a family tracing for reunification of the Un-accompanied Minors at its transit center in Addis Ababa. Once the family tracing is complete, IOM provides transportation to their homes and reinsertion grants for the families of the Un-accompanied Minor migrants.

Note: names of the migrants have been changed for their privacy.

For further information please contact Alemayehu Seifeselassie Addis Ababa. Tel: +251 11 6611117 Email: salemayehu@iom.int