"The first 110 Ethiopian migrants stranded in the Somali town of Bossasso and wanting to go home, have been helped back to Ethiopia by IOM. The migrants are part of a larger group of an estimated 4,000 Ethiopians who are currently transiting through Puntland on their way to the Middle East by using well established smuggling and trafficking networks to cross the Gulf of Aden towards Yemen and then onwards to Saudi Arabia. A total of 238 Ethiopian migrants had expressed a desire to IOM to return home. The remainder of the group are expected to be flown back to Dire Dawa today. IOM is providing pre-departure counselling and medical screening to the migrants wanting to return home as well as additional assistance upon arrival in Ethiopia. This return operation is being carried out in coordination with the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia and with assistance from the UN’s OCHA and UNHCR and with funding from the Danish Refugee Council. From interviews with the migrants, IOM has found that almost all of them had been smuggled overland into Somalia and were heading to Saudi Arabia via Yemen in search of low skill jobs. Very few were aware of the risks involved in their dangerous journey which, as reported by the migrants, include being repeatedly robbed, long walks in the scorching desert, thirst, starvation and various forms of assault by shiftas, or local bandits. For more information, please contact: Yitna Getachew IOM Bossasso E-mail: yitnagetachew@yahoo.com