A final group of 150 Ethiopian migrants who have spent more than a
year in Tanzanian prisons as irregular migrants and who wanted to
go back home, has been assisted by IOM to return to Ethiopia. 
The group is part of 910 Ethiopian migrants helped by IOM this
year.

The assistance to the migrants, who have now arrived in
Ethiopia, was funded by the Japanese government.

Before their departure, the migrants were given medical checks
by IOM staff. Several of them were found to be suffering from
malaria and skin diseases but were fit to travel. IOM provided each
migrant with new clothing and shoes.

The migrants are among the many thousands of Ethiopians who
leave their homes to make their way to South Africa in search of
employment and a better life.  After paying smugglers, they
are taken to Kenya from where they embark on a dangerous one-week
journey across the Indian Ocean to Mozambique before going on to
South Africa.

However, upon arrival in Mozambique, the smugglers often abandon
them to their fate, including some of the migrants in this
particular group.

One of the migrants told IOM that shortly after arriving in
Mozambique and being arrested by local authorities, he and others
were stripped of all their clothes and belongings before being made
to swim across the Ruvuma River which marks the border between
Mozambique and Tanzania.

In Tanzania, the migrants were arrested by local police and put
in prison as Tanzania has no designated centres for holding
irregular migrants. Conditions there are difficult due to
overcrowding and insufficient resources to provide nourishment and
medical care.

As with other Ethiopian migrants wanting to return home, this
group will be helped by IOM to reach their final destinations in
Ethiopia and to reintegrate into their communities.

Since 2009, IOM, with funding from the government of Japan, the
UN Central Emergency Response Fund, and the US State Department's
Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) has helped more
than 2,360 stranded Ethiopian migrants who have wanted to return
home to do so.

For more information please contact:

Monika Peruffo

IOM Tanzania

Tel: +255 22260 2913

E-mail: "mailto:mperuffo@iom.int">mperuffo@iom.int