The Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that 346 Ethiopians living in Saudi Arabia are repatriated against a deadline of 90 days put by Saudi Arabia demanding more than three million undocumented immigrants of differant nationals to leave Saudi Arabia.
Out of the repatriated 346 Ethiopians, 222 arrived on Saturday while 124 arrived on Sunday morning, with all received a warm welcome upon their arrival at Bole International Airport by higher government officials.
Supervision and Support Acting Director with the Ministry, Abdulbasit Kadir, said that 44 of the repatriated Ethiopians, who could not afford to go to their birth place, are welcomed by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
According to Abdulbasit, the organization has provided support for six of the 44 people it gave a refugee to get medical service as they have health problems.
He said that out of the repatriated Ethiopians, 292 were languishing in prison in Saudi Arabia, while 52 people decided to leave the country on their will.
Ethiopians who are willing to come home but could not afford transport fee can register at IOM so that the organization will provide them with transportation fees. The IOM built a makeshift camp in Addis Ababa, which has capacity of holding 200 repatriated people.
A command post led by the Ministry is established to follow up the repatriation process.
The Ethiopian Embassy in Saudi Arabia is ready to issue Visa so that they would not toil to come back home.