Ethiopia brings back over 50,000 nationals from Saudi Arabia

Ethiopia has repatriated 50,337 nationals from Saudi Arabia in the last 45 days, the Ethiopia Ministry of Women and Social Affairs said on Wednesday.

The returnees, flown home aboard 137 flights, are part of 102,000 Ethiopian migrants in Saudi Arabia scheduled to be returned in seven to 11 months, starting at the end of last March, the ministry said in a statement.

Out of the 50,337 returnees, 3,628 are minors below the age of 18, the statement said.

“The ministry is working with regional authorities to help integrate the returnees to their families,” the statement said.

According to the Ethiopian foreign ministry, more than 750,000 Ethiopians live in Saudi Arabia, 450,000 of them without proper documents.

Thousands of Ethiopians are trafficked to the Arabian Peninsula via Djibouti and war-torn Yemen every year, risking imprisonment and killings along the way.

In recent months, Ethiopia has stepped up efforts to take back its citizens stranded overseas, mainly Saudi Arabia, as part of the government’s “citizen-centered diplomacy.”