While the reintegration of displaced foreigners into their South
African host communities is being investigated as the preferred
option, about 2,000 migrants concerned for their personal safety
say they need help from IOM to return to their home countries.

IOM has now officially received requests for humanitarian return
assistance for Ethiopian and Ghanaian nationals from their
governments in addition to inquiries on the issue from Burundi,
Bangladesh, Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe,
Malawi and Mozambique.

With the vast majority of displaced migrants having fled the
violence against foreigners in South Africa, which left 59 people
dead and tens of thousands homeless, without any belongings, money
or documents, many say they need evacuation assistance their
governments are unable to provide.

The Organization has been providing such kind of assistance
throughout its history, with the crisis in Lebanon when IOM
provided humanitarian evacuation assistance to about 12,000 migrant
workers to return home, being the most recent example.

IOM is urgently seeking USD 1 million to assist displaced
migrants, including providing humanitarian return assistance to
this initial group of 2,000 migrants which would include
pre-departure, transportation and post arrival assistance. The
migrants would receive counselling and information on returning to
South Africa as well as help with travel and ticket arrangements
before departure. Transport home would also include being
accompanied by IOM escorts and security coordination where
necessary. On arrival home, the migrants would receive health,
food, final destination transport home as well as reintegration
assistance where possible.

Meanwhile, meeting the current needs of the displaced migrants
is challenging. Assessments of new displacement sites in Pretoria
highlight an irregular supply of even minimum and basic food, the
flooding of tents because they are not winterized and a need for
regular medical assistance as migrants, children in particular, are
suffering from flu and other respiratory problems.

Although tensions are high among the displaced migrants, not
everyone wants to return home, preferring to go back to communities
among which they were living prior to the violence. While trying to
improve the standards of the sites, the government has announced
that it intends to reintegrate the displaced into their local
communities after two months. IOM, which is part of efforts to
provide emergency relief assistance to the displaced, is ready to
assist in meeting this objective.

For the medium-to-long term, IOM expects to launch soon a
comprehensive two-year anti-xenophobia programme in South Africa
together with partners in government and civil society, and is
seeking USD 1.9 million to fund the programme. In addition, the
South African Post Office (SAPO) has joined IOM and METRO FM, South
Africa's leading public commercial radio station, in a long-term
programme to educate the public on human trafficking, and to raise
financial and material resources to help meet the current needs of
displaced migrants.

For more information please contact:

Nde Ndifonka

IOM Pretoria

Tel: +27.82.667.27.76 or

+27.12.342.27.89

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