缅北禁地

They鈥檙e not alone. In fact, they鈥檙e among 463 Ethiopian migrants already brought home this month thanks to the cooperation of the Governments of Tanzania and Ethiopia, working together to facilitate their release and return while the International Organization for Migration (IOM) with the European Union (EU) provided the post arrival assistance. The most recent return flight arrived Monday.听听

Since childhood, Tamrat had dreamed of becoming a doctor or an engineer. As he did not make it to college, he decided to migrate and try working in South Africa instead.听

A smuggler promised the 26 year-old he would travel to Kenya by bus and then fly the rest of the way south. Like most migrants on Africa鈥檚 so called Southern Route, Tamrat paid between 100,000 and 180,000 birr (USD 3,150 and 5,600) for the journey.听听

Encouraged by more successful peers, many Ethiopian migrants听鈥撎齧ost hailing from the southern part of the country听鈥撎齞ream of going to South Africa for work.听

But Tamrat鈥檚 dream was shattered when the lorry in which he was being smuggled听鈥撎齛long with 65 others听鈥撎齛ttracted the attention of authorities.听听

Even at that, he conceded, he considers himself lucky. 鈥淚f we had not been intercepted by the police, some of us would have died of suffocation,鈥� the young man said.听听听

Still, he regrets his choice. 鈥淚听was听in prison for three years after the truck I was smuggled in was intercepted by the police,鈥� he explained.听

Debebe, another returnee from southern Ethiopia, spent four years in a Tanzanian detention. He was a street cobblestone carver before leaving Ethiopia, also to chase his dream working in South Africa. Debebe paid 150,000 Birr (USD 4,500) to a smuggler, explaining he took 100,000 birr from his savings, borrowing the remaining 50,000 birr from his family.听听

Tamrat and Debebe are among the first of a total of 1,400 who are scheduled to be returned this way鈥攁ll Ethiopians being brought home from Tanzania in the coming weeks.听

The returns are supported by听the EU-IOM Joint Initiative for Migrant Protection and Reintegration听in the Horn of Africa (the EU-IOM Joint Initiative), with migrants being flown from Dar es Salam to Addis Ababa鈥檚 Bole International Airport on three Ethiopian Airlines flights. The听Government of Ethiopia covered the cost of the returnees鈥� airfare.听

The programme that brought these men home is part of the larger EU-IOM Joint Initiative for Migrant Protection and Reintegration which facilitates orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration management through the development of rights-based and development-focused policies and processes on protection and sustainable reintegration. The EU-IOM Joint Initiative, backed by the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa covers,听and has been set up in close cooperation with听26 African countries.听听听

IOM provided fitness to travel medical screening as well as clothes and shoes prior to the returnees鈥� departure from Tanzania. Upon arrival in Addis Ababa, IOM also provided further medical assistance, psychosocial support, temporary accommodation at its Migrant Transit Centre, and onward transportation to their communities of return.听听

Commissioner General of the Tanzanian Immigration Service Department, Dr. Anna Makakala, and Ethiopia鈥檚 Ambassador to Tanzania Yonas Yosef Sanbe were present during pre-departure formalities conveying words of support and encouragement to returning migrants.听

The tripartite roadmap contained recommendations for a road map to address detention conditions and to consider alternatives to detention, as well to prevent irregular migration and to support sustainable approaches to return and reintegration, in line with the objectives of the Global Compact for Migration.听听

鈥淚rregular migration is not only costing many Ethiopians their savings or those of their family, but also their lives,鈥� said听Hugo Genest, IOM Ethiopia鈥檚 Programme Coordinator for Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration and Immigration and Border Management.听