South African police found almost 90 people forcibly held in a suburb of Johannesburg. According to the authorities, the kidnapped individuals were living in “inhumane conditions”.
This latest discovery of undocumented Ethiopian migrants, locked in a house, puts the spotlight back on the migration route and flow linking the Horn of Africa to the south of the continent.
South African police were in the middle of an investigation to trace an Ethiopian national kidnapped for ransom when they discovered this house north of the city. Inside was not only the kidnapped Ethiopian, but also these other nationals. In all, just under a hundred people were being held hostage.
Two suspects were arrested on the spot and will soon be brought before a judge on charges of kidnapping and human trafficking. This is not the first time that the South African police have been confronted with such a situation. In September 2023, around a hundred Ethiopian migrants were found, this time to the east of Johannesburg.
In 2023, the International Organization for Migration counted almost 80,000 movements along this so-called “southern” migration route, 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 route.