More than 140 Ethiopian migrants in Yemen returned to their country as part of the Voluntary Humanitarian Return (VHR) programme, following its resumption last December after a hiatus that lasted about three months.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said, in a tweet on its account on the “X” platform, that 147 Ethiopian migrants arrived today, Monday, in Addis Ababa on a flight from Aden International Airport.

She added that this trip comes within the Voluntary Humanitarian Return Program of the International Organization for Migration, thanks to the support provided by the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration at the US Department of State (StatePRM).

After resuming these flights in December 2023, the organization conducted two flights in which it returned a total of 253 Ethiopian migrants to their country, through the voluntary return program, which represents “a safe path for migrants stranded in Yemen to return to their homes.”

It is noteworthy that before these flights stopped last September, more than 6,000 Ethiopian migrants returned safely to their homeland since the beginning of 2023, via flights departing from Ma’rib, Sana’a, and Aden.

The International Organization for Migration estimates that Yemen hosts more than 200,000 migrants, most of whom are from East Africa and the Horn of Africa, and who need urgent humanitarian assistance