Tanzania to Release 1,443 Ethiopian Prisoners

Posted by African Examiner African News, East/Central Africa Tuesday, December 17th, 2019

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – The Ethiopian embassy in Dar Es Salaam said on Tuesday that the Tanzanian government would release 1,443 Ethiopian prisoners, who will be assisted to return home.

The embassy said in a statement that the decision to free the prisoners was made after a trilateral discussion involving Ethiopian embassy officials, European Union (EU) Officials, and Tanzanian government officials.

“The 1,443 Ethiopian prisoners will be freed soon and will be assisted to return back home in collaboration with the UN migrant agency, International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the EU,” the embassy said.

The embassy, however, did not mention what crimes the Ethiopians had been imprisoned for.

On an annual basis, however, hundreds of Ethiopians are detained in Tanzania while trying to use Tanzania as a transit point for their final destination – South Africa.

Human traffickers reportedly use various countries as transit points to smuggle Ethiopians to South Africa.

According to the Ethiopia Ministry of Foreign Affairs, human traffickers charge an average of 3,500 to 4,000 dollars to smuggle a single individual from Ethiopia to South Africa.

In spite of a growing economy and public awareness campaigns on the dangers of human trafficking by the Ethiopian government, it is estimated that thousands of Ethiopians are trafficked to South Africa yearly.

Ethiopians, who are trafficked to South Africa, are mainly engaged in the informal economy. (/NAN)