EU-IOM Joint Initiative

for Migrant Protection and Reintegration

Mohammed* is not in the least worried that his unplanned return to Djibouti means he has not fulfilled his dream of a life abroad.

In fact, he is looking forward to making his way back to Ethiopia, his country of origin. “I decided to go back because I was afraid to stay in Yemen. It was impossible to reach Saudi Arabia. I didn't feel safe, I was very scared. I slept on the street, alone on a piece of cardboard. I often couldn't find food, I had to beg."

The youth is among scores of Ethiopians who are back in Djibouti from Yemen, usually a transit location for the onward journey to the Gulf states. “I spent six months in Yemen, three months in one of the prisons in Sa'ada and three months in the city of Aden,” Mohammed adds.

The onset of COVID-19 and subsequent border closures disrupted the established migratory journey to the Middle East, prompting many to return. Coupled with this has been the conflict in Yemen.

Since he came back Mohammed has been living in the Migration Response Centre (MRC) run by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and also supported by the EU-IOM Joint Initiative for Migrant Protection and Reintegration in the Horn of Africa.

“It was the uncertainty, the worry and the loneliness,” Mohammed explains. “Being worried and anxious all the time was unbearable. Since I arrived in Obock, I have been at peace. I found safety, I sleep well, eat well, I made friends in the centre.”

This week he and 34 other Ethiopians stranded in Djibouti are finally going home. In the group are women with babies, unaccompanied children, sick migrants, a pregnant woman, and a 70-year-old man.

They join the more than 2,100 migrants who have returned since 2017 to their communities of origin through the EU-IOM Joint Initiative.

Since the reopening of the borders in July, IOM Djibouti has been working closely with the Embassy of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and with IOM Ethiopia to enable the stranded migrants to obtain travel documents so that they can get home as quickly as possible.

IOM Chief of Mission in Djibouti, Stéphanie Daviot, emphasized the importance of assisted voluntary return, saying it “offers the possibility to migrants who wish to return in safe conditions and to benefit from assistance offered by IOM in their homes.”

About the EU-IOM Joint Initiative

Launched in December 2016 with the support of the European Union (EU) Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, the programme brings together 26 African countries of the Sahel and Lake Chad region, the Horn of Africa, and North Africa, the EU and IOM around the goal of ensuring migration is safer, more informed and better governed for both migrants and their communities.

*Not his real name