DJIBOUTI CITY — For nearly three decades, a 60-year-old Ethiopian man and his family called Djibouti home. Now, he finds himself staring at a future that has vanished overnight.
“I don’t have anything, anywhere else on earth, except the little business I do and my family of four,” he said in an interview, requesting anonymity for fear of reprisal.
“We all have been living in Djibouti.”
He is among thousands of undocumented Ethiopians ordered to leave the small Horn of Africa nation amid a growing crackdown on migrants that rights groups say is unfolding with little warning or recourse.
The Ethiopian Embassy in Djibouti has advised nationals without legal residency to leave the country within a month, citing what it called a “grace period” granted by Djiboutian authorities. The embassy warned that those who remain past the May 2 deadline risk arrest and forced deportation.
The campaign, which reportedly involves plain-clothes officers targeting undocumented migrants, has sent shockwaves through Djibouti’s large Ethiopian community, many of whom have lived in the country for years, if not decades.
Local Ethiopian newspaper The Reporter was among the first to detail the rising anxiety among Ethiopian residents. The paper documented several cases of individuals being verbally threatened, summoned for questioning, or told outright to leave.
“This crackdown is abrupt and deeply unsettling,” said an Ethiopian community organizer in Djibouti, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Families who have built their lives here are being treated like they just arrived yesterday.”
Djiboutian authorities have not publicly outlined the scope of the operation, nor have they provided justification for the recent escalation. The Djiboutian Embassy in Addis Ababa did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
The developments come amid a flurry of diplomatic activity. On April 23, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi visited Djibouti, where he signed a memorandum of understanding for the construction of solar and wind power projects. In exchange, Egypt is expected to gain access to a strategic port corridor linking Cairo to the Red Sea.
“We agreed to launch an ambitious and joint program to achieve energy security in Djibouti,” El-Sisi said during the signing ceremony, according to Egyptian state media.
It remains unclear whether the migrant crackdown is related to Egypt’s infrastructure overtures, but the timing has raised questions among analysts.
Djibouti, which serves as a logistics hub for military and commercial powers alike, has long balanced foreign partnerships with domestic sensitivities over migration and national identity.
For many Ethiopians now packing their belongings, those calculations offer little comfort.
“There is no road home,” said one long-term resident. “But if we stay, we risk being forced out like criminals.”
