ADDIS ABABA, June 23 (Xinhua) -- With a 90 day Saudi Arabian government amnesty deadline for illegal migrants to return home approaching its expiry date on June 27, 35,000 undocumented Ethiopians so far have returned home.
The figure was given during a press briefing on Friday by Negeri Lencho, Minister of Ethiopian Government Communication Affairs Office, who added that another 85,000 undocumented Ethiopians have taken travel documents to return home from Saudi Arabia.
However, both figures are still a minority of the estimated 400,000 undocumented Ethiopians living in the Middle East's largest economy in jobs ranging from maids to construction sites.
With a growing population currently at around 30 million and a squeeze in international oil price, Saudi Arabia is on a drive to indigenize its work force currently dominated by millions of illegal and legal migrants.
The approaching deadline recalled painful memories of Ethiopians in the last deportation debacle in November 2013 when a deportation round by Saudi authorities on illegal migrants left many Ethiopians in Saudi detention camps and returned home penniless.
Ethiopian government has already dispatched a dozen diplomats in its embassy in Riyadh and consular offices in other Saudi cities to give consular advice to stranded Ethiopians.
With an eye to curb illegal migration, the Ethiopian government last month signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia government for an overseas employment agreement to help future legal Ethiopian migrants.
It has also put advertorials in Ethiopian electronic media urging relatives of Ethiopians illegally residing in Saudi Arabia to persuade them to return ahead of the expiry of the Amnesty deadline.
