International Organization for Migration (Geneva)
12 March 2008
press release
A group of 33 Ethiopians, victims of a grenade attack in Somalia's port town of Bossasso in early February as well as close relatives have been safely returned home today by IOM.
The group was flown home to Dire Dawa in eastern Ethiopia accompanied by IOM staff from its office in Hargeisa who have been working closely with the authorities in the organization of the return. The latter have provided critical security and logistical support, including transport to take the victims from the hospital to the airport.
The attack on 6 February killed 22 people and wounded another 74, mostly Ethiopian migrants wanting to make the perilous sea crossing across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen using smuggling networks.
Twenty-one of the 33 returned, suffering mainly from bone fractures or limb amputations and in need of urgent hospitalization, will be admitted to the general hospital in Dire Dawa. The victims, who since the attack have been in a hospital in Bossasso, have received a tremendous outpouring of sympathy from the local community. However, limited facilities at the hospital have meant that open wounds have become infected and fractures still not set.
Once their medical condition has been stabilized, IOM will provide psycho-social assistance to the blast victims. The Organization will also arrange their rehabilitation and reintegration into their home communities through other humanitarian actors once they return there.
The returnees, all men except for one woman, are from southwestern and northern part of Ethiopia. Tracing their families and exact home destinations and contacting family members has been difficult mainly due to the remoteness of their villages and the poor communication network. However, those families successfully contacted by IOM have shown great eagerness to join and assist the victims.
"We have yet to trace the families of all the bomb victims," says IOM's operations officer for the region, Bill Lorenz. "Some of the migrants are still traumatized by what has happened to them and are nervous about coming home. We're hoping that being back in Ethiopia will help lessen their trauma and that will help us to link them to their families."
Together with UNHCR, UNOCHA and the Danish Refugee Council, IOM offices in the region have been working to provide assistance and information to migrants travelling to Bossasso in Somalia's Puntland, a major human smuggling hotspot for Somalis and Ethiopians seeking either protection or better work opportunities in the Gulf and beyond. The journey across the Gulf of Aden is particularly dangerous with 1,400 migrants reported dead or missing in 2007 alone, according to UNHCR.
Large numbers of Ethiopian migrants still remain in Bossasso despite the change in weather making sea crossings too dangerous for small boats. Many of the Ethiopians now want to return home, partly because of the grenade attack which has highlighted tensions towards this group of migrants by some parts of the local community.
In a bid to strengthen the capacity of the Puntland immigration authority to deal with the on-going migration crisis in the region, IOM will shortly begin a programme that will complement other projects in the Horn of Africa to help the Puntland Authorities to develop migration policies and to train immigration officers to enhance the ability of the authorities to respond to migration challenges.
Meanwhile, in Ethiopia, IOM has begun a new counter-smuggling and counter-trafficking information campaign targeting potential migrants in rural Ethiopia.
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