Addis Ababa – More than 3,600 Ethiopians have been deported from Saudi Arabia between July 3 and July 27, after serving prison sentences for violating country’s rules and regulations.
Asmelash Gebrehiwot, senior official at Ethiopia’s National Disaster Risk Management Commission (NDRMC), said on Friday.
He also said that another 70,000 deportees were returned to Ethiopia ahead of a Saudi amnesty deadline for undocumented migrants to leave.
“The Ethiopian deportees were jailed by Saudi Arabia over offences ranging from lack of valid expatriate residency identification cards and also engaged in petty crimes,” he added.
Gebrehiwot further said that the Ethiopian Government had been working with the International Organisation for Migration to provide shelter, transportation, clothes and pocket money for the deportees.
Saudi Arabia announced in March a three months amnesty programme for undocumented foreign migrants to voluntarily leave the country before the amnesty’s expiration on June 24.
The Saudi Authority had extended the first amnesty by a month effective from June 24 to July 24. It had also extended the amnesty for the second term after July 24 expiration, by a month to end by Aug. 23. (NAN)
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