News

Ethiopia Repatriates 464 Citizens stranded in Saudi Arabia

ADDIS ABABA – At least 464 Ethiopian nationals who were stranded in Saudi Arabia have been repatriated on Monday.

The Ethiopians, including 210 children, came back home on Monday afternoon, said the spokesperson of the ministry of foreign affairs said.



Representatives of the ministry welcomed the returnees upon their arrival at Addis Ababa Bole International Airport from Saudi’s city of Jeddah.

The government resumed repatriating undocumented Ethiopian nationals from the gulf nation last week.

Previously, the government repatriated nearly 42, 000 of its undocumented citizens who were detained in Saudi Arabia, using 139 flights, between mid-June to the first week of last month.

It is now pushing to repatriate a thousand more from various detention centers and prisons in Saudi Arabia “who were not able to come to Ethiopia in the previously arranged mass flights,” Spokesperson Dina Mufti, said last week.