GENEVA - The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has expressed alarm at the surge in deaths among migrants trying to reach South Africa. On Sunday, Zambian police said the bodies of 27 suspected migrants were discovered in an area north of Zambia's capital, Lusaka.
In October, police in neighboring Malawi said the bodies of 30 migrants were found buried in a forest in the northern district of Mzimba. In both cases, the victims were young Ethiopian men who were being trafficked to South Africa.
Two years ago, 64 Ethiopian men were also found dead in a sealed shipping container in Mozambique. Their deaths at the hands of traffickers in southern African countries have become a cause for growing concern.
Most of the victims were significantly aided by traffickers, Girmachew Adugna, the Program Manager at the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Flight and Migration Competence Centre in Addis Ababa told DW.
"Throughout their journey what these young, inexperienced boys are going through is indescribable. It is inhumane. It started in the 1990s,'' he said.
