By Ashenafi Endale<\/p>\n
New Director vows to clear 300,000+ passport application backlog within a year<\/p>\n
The Ethiopian Immigration Service (EIS) has placed the country\u2019s largest passport order in years \u2013 a whopping 1.5 million new documents from manufacturers in Paris. Around 190,000 passports have already arrived in Ethiopia over the past few weeks.<\/p>\n
The massive procurement marks a turning point for the long-troubled agency. For the past six months, the office had come to a standstill, grinding applications to a halt. A massive backlog of over 300,000 requests had piled up as a result.<\/p>\n
However, help may finally be on the way. Newly-appointed director general Selamawit Dawit, who replaced scandal-plagued former officials just one month ago, vows to clear the whole backlog within the next fiscal year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will work tirelessly to get passports to the 300,000 waiting applicants, as well as any new requests that come in, by this time next year,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n