EIB to loan Ethiopia $200 mln for migrants jobs scheme

Wed Sep 21, 2016 4:21pm GMT

(Corrects last paragraph to show it is Eritrea which accounted for 5 pct of refugees to Europe)

By Aaron Maasho

ADDIS ABABA, Sept 21 (Reuters) - The European Investment Bank is set to lend Ethiopia $200 million to build two industry parks that will employ 30,000 refugees in a move aimed at curbing migration to Europe, the bank said on Wednesday.

The Horn of Africa country hosts more than 743,000 refugees and asylum seekers from neighbouring countries, many of whom use its camps as way stations on a longer journey to Europe.

The bank said the 30,000 refugees will be among 100,000 people who will be employed altogether in a scheme that will cost $500 million. The World Bank, Britain, and other EU nations will provide the rest of the financing.

"We know that Ethiopia is for many a stopping point before making the dangerous onward journey to final destinations in Europe," said Werner Hoyer, the EIB's president.

"Initiatives and projects like this provide people with a choice to stay closer to home and an opportunity for economic growth as well," he added in a statement.

Over 161,000 Eritrean refugees currently reside in Ethiopia, the majority of whom say they fled the prospect of unlimited service in the Eritrean military.

More than 33,000 Eritreans sought asylum in Europe last year, the European Union says.

Eritrea accounts for five percent of the refugees and migrants to have reached European shores so far this year, according to data obtained from the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR.

(Reporting by Aaron Maasho; Editing by Richard Balmforth)

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Italy sets trial for suspected African human-smuggling boss

Wed Sep 21, 2016 3:14pm GMT

PALERMO, Italy, Sept 21 (Reuters) - A Sicilian judge on Wednesday ordered a trial for an Eritrean man accused of running a people smuggling network that sent thousands of migrants to Europe and many to their deaths during dangerous sea voyages to the continent.

Judge Alessia Geraci said Medhanie Tesfamariam Berhean would stand trial in Palermo, capital of Italy's southern island of Sicily, on Nov. 16 on charges of abetting illegal immigration and engaging in human trafficking.

Medhanie was arrested in May in Sudan and extradited to Italy, the European entry point for many migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea in rickety boats from North Africa.

It was the first time a suspected trafficking kingpin was tracked down in Africa and brought to face justice in Italy since Europe's migration crisis started almost three years ago.

However, friends and family of Medhanie say it is a case of mistaken identity, arguing that he was an impoverished 29-year-old refugee with no criminal background, who was living quietly in Khartoum and seeking to join his siblings in the United States when he was arrested in a rundown cafe.

Medhanie denies all the charges.

His arrest was coordinated by Italy and Britain's National Crime Agency. They maintain they have the right man, but acknowledged that they initially got his name wrong and put out the photograph of another man.

More than 300,000 migrants and refugees have crossed the Mediterranean this year looking to reach Europe, according to the U.N. refugee agency. Some 3,210 migrants are reported to have died or gone missing while attempting the journey since Jan. 1. (Reporting by Vladimiro Pantaleone writing by Philip Pullella; editing by Mark Heinrich)

(Reuters): EIB to loan Ethiopia $200 mln for migrants jobs scheme

EIB to loan Ethiopia $200 mln for migrants jobs scheme

Italy sets trial for suspected African human-smuggling boss