Somalia repatriates 1 000 illegals

BAIDOA-Authorities in northeastern Somalia on Sunday repatriated more than 1 000 Ethiopians whom smugglers were preparing to take across the Gulf of Aden to the promise of jobs and a better life in the Middle East.

Region’s interior minister Mohamed Abdi Habsade said the 1 370 migrants were sent home in the first wave of a government crackdown on the channel of illegal immigration running through Somalia’s autonomous region of Puntland. A resident Sahal Abdi said the immigrants were taken to villages in the Ethiopian area of Galadi on the border with Somalia.Puntland’s deputy police chief Abdiaziz Sa’id Ga’amey said that for the past 24 hours, police had rounded up another 236 Ethiopian immigrants and sent 72 Somalis back to their homes in other parts of the country after they were caught trying to board boats to Yemen.A September 25 government order banned human smuggling.Ga’amey, who headed a special unit investigating illegal immigration, said authorities were going after traffickers and the owners of the boats used to ferry the migrants across the Gulf.On Friday, the United Nations refugee agency said that northeastern Somalia had become a major hub for smugglers taking illegal immigrants to Yemen.Most of the immigrants were from Somalia, Ethiopia and Sudan, escaping drought, insecurity and economic hardship in their countries.Nampa-APA resident Sahal Abdi said the immigrants were taken to villages in the Ethiopian area of Galadi on the border with Somalia.Puntland’s deputy police chief Abdiaziz Sa’id Ga’amey said that for the past 24 hours, police had rounded up another 236 Ethiopian immigrants and sent 72 Somalis back to their homes in other parts of the country after they were caught trying to board boats to Yemen.A September 25 government order banned human smuggling.Ga’amey, who headed a special unit investigating illegal immigration, said authorities were going after traffickers and the owners of the boats used to ferry the migrants across the Gulf.On Friday, the United Nations refugee agency said that northeastern Somalia had become a major hub for smugglers taking illegal immigrants to Yemen.Most of the immigrants were from Somalia, Ethiopia and Sudan, escaping drought, insecurity and economic hardship in their countries.Nampa-AP