A group of 33 Ethiopians, victims of a grenade attack in Somalia's
port town of Bossasso in early February as well as close relatives
have been safely returned home today by IOM.

The group was flown home to Dire Dawa in eastern Ethiopia
accompanied by IOM staff from its office in Hargeisa who have been
working closely with the authorities in the organization of the
return. The latter have provided critical security and logistical
support, including transport to take the victims from the hospital
to the airport.

The attack on 6 February killed 22 people and wounded another
74, mostly Ethiopian migrants wanting to make the perilous sea
crossing across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen using smuggling
networks.

Twenty-one of the 33 returned, suffering mainly from bone
fractures or limb amputations and in need of urgent
hospitalization, will be admitted to the general hospital in Dire
Dawa. The victims, who since the attack have been in a hospital in
Bossasso, have received a tremendous outpouring of sympathy from
the local community. However, limited facilities at the hospital
have meant that open wounds have become infected and fractures
still not set.

Once their medical condition has been stabilized, IOM will
provide psycho-social assistance to the blast victims. The
Organization will also arrange their rehabilitation and
reintegration into their home communities through other
humanitarian actors once they return there.

The returnees, all men except for one woman, are from the
southwestern and northern part of Ethiopia. Tracing their families
and exact home destinations and contacting family members has been
difficult mainly due to the remoteness of their villages and the
poor communication network. However, those families successfully
contacted by IOM have shown great eagerness to join and assist the
victims.

"We have yet to trace the families of all the bomb victims,"
says IOM's operations officer for the region, Bill Lorenz. "Some of
the migrants are still traumatized by what has happened to them and
are nervous about coming home. We're hoping that being back in
Ethiopia will help lessen their trauma and that will help us to
link them to their families."

Together with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR), United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (UNOCHA) and the Danish Refugee Council, IOM offices in the
region have been working to provide assistance and information to
migrants travelling to Bossasso in Somalia's Puntland, a major
human smuggling hotspot for Somalis and Ethiopians seeking either
protection or better work opportunities in the Gulf and beyond. The
journey across the Gulf of Aden is particularly dangerous with
1,400 migrants reported dead or missing in 2007 alone, according to
UNHCR.

Large numbers of Ethiopian migrants still remain in Bossasso
despite the change in weather making sea crossings too dangerous
for small boats.  Many of the Ethiopians now want to return
home, partly because of the grenade attack which has highlighted
tensions towards this group of migrants by some parts of the local
community.

In a bid to strengthen the capacity of the Puntland immigration
authority to deal with the on-going migration crisis in the region,
IOM will shortly begin a programme that will complement other
projects in the Horn of Africa to help the Puntland Authorities to
develop migration policies and to train immigration officers to
enhance the ability of the authorities to respond to migration
challenges.

Meanwhile, in Ethiopia, IOM has begun a new counter-smuggling
and counter-trafficking information campaign targeting potential
migrants in rural Ethiopia.

For more information please contact:

Alem Brook

IOM Addis

E-mail: "mailto:abrook@iom.int" target="_blank" title=
"">abrook@iom.int

or

Iulian Circo

Dire Dawa

Email: "mailto:icirco@iom.int" target="_blank" title=
"">icirco@iom.int

Tel: +25290660016

or

Ashraf El Nou

IOM Kenya

E-mail:  "mailto:elnournbo@iom.int" target="_blank" title=
"">elnournbo@iom.int