CEOAFRICA gathered that the Ethiopian government has temporarily banned its citizens from travelling abroad to look for work saying the decision was meant to "safeguard the well-being of citizens".

According to sources, the foreign ministry said the government had taken various measures to limit the suffering of its citizens, including setting up a national council and a taskforce to educate them, but those measures had not been able to address the problem sufficiently.

Source said that many Ethiopians who try to reach Saudi Arabia, travelling via Yemen by sea and entering the kingdom illegally often end up being smuggled, trafficked or subjected to mental and physical torture. And once they reach their destinations, many require humanitarian assistance or face a wide range of abuses from employer.

Some human rights activists have said that a significant number of those classified as economic migrants flee the country because of political and economic oppression or ethnic discrimination by the state.

According to report, employment agencies will also be barred from facilitating travel abroad.