In South Africa, nearly 90 people were found by police in the suburbs of Johannesburg. According to the South African authorities, they were living in ” inhumane conditions ” and were allegedly detained against their will. This new discovery of undocumented Ethiopian migrants locked in a house sheds light on the route and the migratory flow that links the Horn of Africa to the south of the continent.
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With our correspondent in Johannesburg, Claire Bargelès
The police South African was actually in the middle of an investigation to find the trace of a national Ethiopian kidnapped with a ransom demand when she discovered this house north of the city this weekend. Inside was not only this kidnapped Ethiopian but also these other nationals. In all, just under a hundred people were held captive.
Two suspects were arrested on the spot and are expected to be brought before a judge soon for kidnapping and human trafficking. This is not the first time that the South African police have been confronted with such a situation since in September 2023, around a hundred Ethiopian migrants were found, this time east of Johannesburg.
In 2023, the International Organization for Migration recorded nearly 80,000 movements at the level of this migratory route called “southern” and which attracts migrants from the Horn of Africa dreaming of opportunities in the rainbow nation. Since 2020, the bodies of dozens of Ethiopian migrants have been found in Mozambique, Zambia and Malawi, along this perilous journey.