Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed over the weekend helped repatriate 105 Ethiopian refugees who have been jailed in Sudan for years, APA learnt Monday.
The repatriations came before Premier Abiy left Khartoum after he had witnessed the signing ceremony of the peace accord brokered by Ethiopia and the African Union (AU).
The Ethiopian refugees returned Addis Ababa along with Prime Minister Abiy in the same flight.
The returnees have been sneaking into Sudan without travel documents as trying to travel to Libya and Europe deluded by human traffickers.
The women dominated returnees have been under dire conditions in various jails of Sudan.
In June this year, the Transitional Military Council of Sudan also released 78 Ethiopian prisoners, who had been jailed in Sudanese prisons for many years.
Similarly, Ahmed who was vising Sudan for mediation efforts facilitated the release of the Ethiopian prisoners two months ago.
Despite skepticism on numerous pledges made during a meeting with Ethiopians in different parts of Ethiopia, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s effort to protect Ethiopians outside of the country has earned him notable respect even in the opposition quarter and among Ethiopians in the diaspora.
Unlike previous Ethiopian governments, it was not in the tradition of the ruling party, whose chairman in now Abiy Ahmed, to stand up for the rights of Ethiopians.
MG/abj/as/APA