By Samuel Getachew

Amid raging conflict, inflation pressures, unemployment, and widespread famine, Ethiopians are fleeing their country in large numbers, attempting the dangerous journey across the Gulf of Aden in search of greener pastures in Europe, Yemen, or other wealthy gulf states. 

The trek is risky and far too often ends in tragedy, such as on August 4 when a grossly overcrowded boat capsized and at least 68 Ethiopians perished in the Gulf of Aden. Over 130 more African migrants remain unaccounted for from that disaster, and they are presumed dead.  

Despite the dangers, Ethiopians continue to plan their migration journeys. The alternative, which is to stay in Ethiopia, is untenable, they say.

Henok Tesfaledet

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Tesfaledet was born in Ethiopia, and has been making plans for months to embark on the same migration route so many others have taken in recent years, to escape from a life he described as doomed. He said it would be impossible to realize his dreams in his motherland.

“I graduated from university – the first in my family – hoping that I would have a fulfilling employment and a future,  but conflict, unemployment, and war has become my reality,” the 27-year-old said, speaking to Amjambo Africain Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital city.

Tesfaledet is a native of Bahir Dar, in the volatile Amhara region, and like many other young people, he has paid a smuggler to help him, selling his family’s three-wheel taxi and using collateral from a family property to a trafficker for a chance to be included in a group that would soon head to Djibouti, and from there onward to Yemen.

“I drove a taxi for years, saved up some money, but there seems to be no change in my life and the only remaining option was to take a risk or die a slow death in Ethiopia,” Tesfaledet lamented.

Daniel Asnake 

Asnake has made two failed attempts to cross into Saudi Arabia. The first time he tried, he was stopped by traffickers on his way to Yemen and robbed of all the money he had. He was forced to call his mother for financial assistance to secure his release. The captors demanded 1 million Birr (the equivalent of $7,000 USD), later negotiated down to 500,000 Birr.

“My mother, who works, but is still a poor citizen, sold all her belongings to have me released, and ensure I could head to Yemen, where I faced violence at the border of Saudi Arabia,” Asnake said.

Then two years ago Asnake was forced to return to Ethiopia, having lost a limb in a shootout that occurred between migrants and Saudi Arabian security guards. Since his return, he has been plagued with traumatic flashbacks.

The 2023 Human Rights Watch report They Fired on Us like Rain described the near-death experiences of many migrants and spoke of the actions of the Saudi border guards as “a crime against humanity.”

“Saudi border guards have used explosive weapons and shot people at close range, including women and children, in a pattern that is widespread and systematic,” the report said. “In some instances, Saudi border guards first asked survivors in which limb of their body they preferred to be shot, before shooting them at close range.”