EU-IOM Joint Initiative

for Migrant Protection and Reintegration

Lean with short curly hair and prone to an easy smile, Teketel looks like a regular teenager, except that he survived ordeals many others can’t even imagine.

“The container was too hot, like a fire,” recalls the 18-year-old who was among 14 people who survived asphyxiation in a containerized truck in Mozambique. “There was no oxygen, and people around me started to die one by one.”

Sixty-four people perished during that horrific accident on 24 March.

The survivors — except for three who probably continued with the journey — decided to return home. This was thanks to the joint efforts of the governments of Ethiopia and Mozambique assisted by the EU-IOM Joint Initiative for Migrant Protection and Reintegration in the Horn of Africa.

The 78 Ethiopians were on a journey to South Africa, 6,000km away from home, to look for better opportunities.

The overland route from the Horn of Africa to South Africa — also known as the Southern Route — remains largely understudied with little current and comprehensive data available, despite being one of the most dangerous and challenging migration routes on the continent.

Among Ethiopians, South Africa is a favoured destination particularly for those like Teketel from the Southern Nations Nationalities and People’s Regional State (SNNPR).

Teketel did not pass his tenth-grade exams and with no prospects of getting a job in his small town of Lisana, he decided to join an old friend who migrated to South Africa.

“Soon after the discussion with my friend, the smugglers called to tell me to prepare for the road. They instructed me to go to Moyale,” he says.

Moyale, 650km away from his home, sits on the Ethiopia-Kenya border. It is the first border Ethiopian migrants cross at the onset of their journey to South Africa. Teketel did not know who the smugglers were — his friend made all the arrangements and payments from South Africa.

“After Moyale, I walked through a Kenyan forest for days; thorn bushes ripped up by clothes. The smugglers left us in the forest to spend nights and gave each of us one piece of bread every 24 hours,” says Teketel.

“We reached Nairobi and continued the journey all the way to Malawi mostly on foot, but sometimes by motorbike and in containers. Some containers were ventilated, some weren’t, like the one that took us to Mozambique.”

“We did not want to go into that container. It could barely fit 10 people. But they (the smugglers) threatened us with a machete and left us no choice.”

After what appeared to be an eight-hour drive, the truck was stopped by the authorities in Mozambique’s Tete province. Prior to that very moment, those with what little strength was left in them had screamed and banged on the container knowing that was their only chance to be saved.

That was when a security patrol stopped the truck and opened the door.

Of the 78 Ethiopians, only 14 were breathing still.

“I was having nightmares and unable to sleep soon after my return,” says Teketel.

Upon their return, IOM provided the migrants with psychosocial counseling. Local transportation to their home communities was facilitated after the completion of the mandatory 14-day quarantine due to COVID 19.

They were also consulted about their individual reintegration plans. Some planned to engage in cattle fattening and the grain trade while others were preparing to open retail shops.

Teketel is excited to open a gaming house with several pool tables in his town that has limited recreational options for youth like himself.

“My friend later told me that he paid 4,600USD to smugglers, it’s money lost but money can be regained. I am back, alive and healthy. I can start afresh and work in my country. I am hopeful for the future,” he says.

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.

Story by Helina Mengistu and Wilson Johwa

Lean with short curly hair and prone to an easy smile, Teketel looks like a regular teenager, except that he survived ordeals many others can’t even imagine.

“The container was too hot, like a fire,” recalls the 18-year-old who was among 14 people who survived asphyxiation in a containerized truck in Mozambique. “There was no oxygen, and people around me started to die one by one.”

Sixty-four people perished during that horrific accident on 24 March.

The survivors — except for three who probably continued with the journey — decided to return home. This was thanks to the joint efforts of the governments of Ethiopia and Mozambique assisted by the EU-IOM Joint Initiative for Migrant Protection and Reintegration in the Horn of Africa.

The 78 Ethiopians were on a journey to South Africa, 6,000km away from home, to look for better opportunities.

The overland route from the Horn of Africa to South Africa — also known as the Southern Route — remains largely understudied with little current and comprehensive data available, despite being one of the most dangerous and challenging migration routes on the continent.

Among Ethiopians, South Africa is a favoured destination particularly for those like Teketel from the Southern Nations Nationalities and People’s Regional State (SNNPR).

Teketel did not pass his tenth-grade exams and with no prospects of getting a job in his small town of Lisana, he decided to join an old friend who migrated to South Africa.

“Soon after the discussion with my friend, the smugglers called to tell me to prepare for the road. They instructed me to go to Moyale,” he says.

Moyale, 650km away from his home, sits on the Ethiopia-Kenya border. It is the first border Ethiopian migrants cross at the onset of their journey to South Africa. Teketel did not know who the smugglers were — his friend made all the arrangements and payments from South Africa.

“After Moyale, I walked through a Kenyan forest for days; thorn bushes ripped up by clothes. The smugglers left us in the forest to spend nights and gave each of us one piece of bread every 24 hours,” says Teketel.

“We reached Nairobi and continued the journey all the way to Malawi mostly on foot, but sometimes by motorbike and in containers. Some containers were ventilated, some weren’t, like the one that took us to Mozambique.”

“We did not want to go into that container. It could barely fit 10 people. But they (the smugglers) threatened us with a machete and left us no choice.”

After what appeared to be an eight-hour drive, the truck was stopped by the authorities in Mozambique’s Tete province. Prior to that very moment, those with what little strength was left in them had screamed and banged on the container knowing that was their only chance to be saved.

That was when a security patrol stopped the truck and opened the door.

Of the 78 Ethiopians, only 14 were breathing still.

“I was having nightmares and unable to sleep soon after my return,” says Teketel.

Upon their return, IOM provided the migrants with psychosocial counseling. Local transportation to their home communities was facilitated after the completion of the mandatory 14-day quarantine due to COVID 19.

They were also consulted about their individual reintegration plans. Some planned to engage in cattle fattening and the grain trade while others were preparing to open retail shops.

Teketel is excited to open a gaming house with several pool tables in his town that has limited recreational options for youth like himself.

“My friend later told me that he paid 4,600USD to smugglers, it’s money lost but money can be regained. I am back, alive and healthy. I can start afresh and work in my country. I am hopeful for the future,” he says.

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.

Story by Helina Mengistu and Wilson Johwa