Around 30,087 Ethiopians have returned home from Middle Eastern countries in recent weeks, an Ethiopia Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) official said on Friday.
Speaking to journalists, Dina Mufti, Spokesperson for MoFA, said 30,087 Ethiopian nationals were returned home from various Middle Eastern countries including Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
“We have facilitated the return home of 656 citizens from Lebanon, 72 citizens from Abu Dhabi, 3,539 citizens from Saudi Arabia and 1,023 citizens from Kuwait,” said Mufti.
Mufti also said efforts are continuing to repatriate Ethiopians stranded in various countries including those stranded in Western, Asian and Latin American countries, partly stranded because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The Ethiopian government through its overseas diplomatic missions, Ethiopian overseas communities and in collaboration with the IOM and UNHCR is working to assist Ethiopians stranded across the world,” Mufti told journalists.
In recent months, Ethiopia has stepped up efforts to return home its citizens stranded in various foreign countries, as part of the government’s newly unveiled “citizen focused diplomacy”.
