ADDIS ABABA, April 27 (Xinhua) -- The Ethiopian government said on Friday 100 of its nationals were repatriated from Yemen.

In a press statement sent to Xinhua, the Office of the Ethiopia Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), said the Ethiopians arrived from Yemen with the help of the Ethiopian Embassy in Djibouti and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The statement said the 100 Ethiopians had initially arrived in Yemen as a transit point to be trafficked to Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries, but were stranded because of the ongoing civil war in Yemen.

MoFA has in the last nine months repatriated 1660 Ethiopians who were trafficked to Yemen via Djibouti and Red Sea but then were left abandoned by human traffickers.

It is estimated that every year thousands of Ethiopians looking for better economic opportunities abroad are trafficked through Somalia, Djibouti and the Red Sea to reach the Arabian Peninsula.