Revealed: Eastern Africa’s most dangerous migration route

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Nairobi. The Horn of Africa is facing a renewed surge in human trafficking and irregular migration, with Ethiopia, Somalia, and Eritrea singled out as major hotspots for smugglers exploiting desperate jobseekers.

Fresh data from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) reveals that illegal labour migration along the Eastern Route — stretching through Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, and Yemen — has sharply increased in the first eight months of 2025, cementing its place as one of the world’s busiest and most perilous migration corridors.

Nihan Erdogan, IOM’s Deputy Regional Director for East, Horn, and Southern Africa, said most irregular migrants originate from Ethiopia and Somalia, often lured by the promise of jobs in the Middle East and the Gulf.

“We continue to see citizens from the eastern Horn risking everything for employment opportunities abroad,” she noted at the 3rd Igad Conference on Labour, Employment, and Labour Migration in Nairobi.

The IOM attributes the rise to new smuggling routes through Yemen’s Ta’izz City and increased cross-border departures from Ethiopia. Figures show migration numbers rose from 178,300 in 2024 to 238,000 by mid-2025.

During the same period, 55,700 Ethiopian migrants were forcibly repatriated from Saudi Arabia — slightly fewer than last year — though the number of returning boys and girls grew by 31 and 18 percent respectively.

Between April and June, 78 migrants died or went missing along the route, mostly in Djibouti and Yemen. By June 2025, at least 348 deaths or disappearances had been recorded, surpassing last year’s toll.

Ethiopia, long criticised for porous borders, pledged to tighten controls and promote safer, regulated labour mobility. Member states of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad) — including Kenya, Uganda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Djibouti, Eritrea, and Ethiopia — vowed to harmonise labour migration policies and strengthen protection for migrant workers.

Igad Executive Secretary Dr Workneh Gebeyehu described the region’s migration crisis as “a ticking time bomb,” urging governments to create jobs at home and improve working conditions abroad. “Too many of our youth, driven by despair, are dying along routes like the Red Sea. We must ensure they thrive where they belong,” he said.

Kenya’s Labour Cabinet Secretary, Dr Alfred Mutua, echoed the call for reforms linking employment and human rights. “Migration should be dignified, safe, and beneficial,” he said. “We must fight human trafficking and stop the exploitation of our people simply because they are desperate.”

Dr Workneh also renewed calls for a single-visa regime across the Igad bloc to ease lawful labour mobility without undermining national security or sovereignty.