+60 Zimbabwean women missing in Middle East

Some 60 Zimbabwean women are feared missing in the Middle East. The Government is frantically trying to locate 50 women in Kuwait and 10 in Saudi Arabia.

Early this year, Government facilitated the repatriation of 150 women who were held as virtual slaves in Middle Eastern countries. The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Foreign Affairs Kindness Paradza said Parliament had recommended that the Kuwait Embassy in Harare halt issuing visas to Zimbabweans seeking employment as domestic workers in the Middle Eastern country.

"One of the recommendations that was approved in Parliament was for the Kuwait Embassy in Zimbabwe not to issue visas to domestic workers," he said. "The latest we know is that 50 women and girls are unaccounted for in Kuwait and in Saudi Arabia there are 10 whose whereabouts are unknown.

"The Government has so far aided the repatriation of about 150 women out of more than 200 that were reported to be working under tough conditions in some Arab countries. What we are rooting for is for Government to send a team to engage authorities in both Kuwait and Saudi Arabia."

Government has set up a special fund to assist stranded Zimbabweans in the Middle East to return home.