. warns citizens against scholarship visa scammers
ADDIS ABABA – Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it has repatriated over 2455 Ethiopian illegal migrants who were jailed in Saudi Arabia and Puntland this week. Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Nebiyat Getachew told journalist that the government has repatriated Ethiopian nationals who were living and working without residence and work permit in Saudi Arabia and Punt land.
He said this week 1040 Ethiopian national’s were repatriated from Saudi Arabia and 1415 from Puntland. The government of Ethiopia in collaboration with International Organization for Migration (IOM) is working to return additional 500 Ethiopian national from Saudi Arabia and 517 from punt land Nebiyat stated.
He further recalled that three weeks ago a lot of Ethiopians traveling to the Middle East illegally lost their lives off the coast of Djibouti. Meanwhile the spokesperson warned citizens to be cautious of illegal individuals and organizations that are engaged in cheating people with the pretext of awarding scholarship visa to China.
Nebiyat said citizens who are victimized by the scammers have faced many problems they are forced to engage in different illegal activities after arriving in China. Victims of the scam are usually forced to engage in criminal like drug trafficking.
As a result, more than 47 Ethiopians suspected of homicide, drug trafficking, robbery and cybercrime have been imprisoned while others are under investigation in China Nebiyat noted. Ethiopian embassy in Beijing and the three consulates in other cities are following their cases, he indicated. China and Ethiopia have bilateral relations regarding social, economic and political issues.
Chinese government is doing many activities to strengthen ties among the two nations especially in education sector by giving scholarship for Ethiopian students.
The Ethiopian Herald, March 2/2019
BY HAILE DEMEKE
