Saudi guards murdered tons of of Ethiopian migrants at Yemen border: Report

Between March 2022 and June 2023, Saudi Arabian border guards allegedly killed tons of of Ethiopian migrants, and asylum seekers who tried to enter their nation by means of the Yemeni border. A brand new report by Human Rights Watch has levelled these critical allegations in opposition to Saudi border guards. In the 73-page report titled “They Fired on us like Rain”, HRW has shared graphic testimonies of those that one way or the other got here out of hurt’s manner alive to share their harrowing expertise.  

According to a report issued by Human Rights Watch right this moment, Saudi border guards have been accountable for the deaths of a number of hundred Ethiopian migrants and asylum seekers making an attempt to cross the Yemen-Saudi border through the interval spanning from March 2022 to June 2023.

One 14-year-old survivor Hamdiya mentioned, “We were fired on repeatedly. I saw people killed in a way I have never imagined. I saw 30 killed people on the spot. I pushed myself under a rock and slept there. I could feel people sleeping around me. I realized what I thought were people sleeping around me were actually dead bodies. I woke up and I was alone.” 

As per the HRW report, Hamdiya shared her story after she arrived within the Yemeni capital, Sana’a with the assistance of different migrants. Further, on the premise of the testimonies of ten different interviewees, the HRW report claimed that round 1,278 migrants tried to cross the border in 11 massive teams. Out of them, they claimed that a minimum of 655 migrants have been killed.

One survivor advised HRW that there have been greater than 170 individuals in his group and 90 of them have been killed. 

Nadia Hardman is a researcher within the refugee and migrant rights division at HRW. While talking to Euronews, she mentioned, “There are definitely many more deaths because it’s impossible to get an accurate figure. It’s an inaccessible area and we are interviewing people who have just fled a scene of absolute horror, they’re devastated.”

The HRW report claimed that Saudi border guards allegedly even used “explosive weapons” to kill many migrants at shut vary. As said within the HRW report, the interviewees gave diverse responses on using explosive weapons. Some described explosive weapons “like a bomb,” mortar or rocket launchers being fired from the “back of cars.”

Some of the survivors alleged that in some cases, Saudi border guards first requested survivors by which limb of their physique they most well-liked to be shot, earlier than taking pictures them at shut vary in that limb.

HRW researcher Hardman claimed that earlier the incidences of killing have been irregular but it surely now appeared that it’s widespread and systematic. 

She mentioned, “HRW has been documenting killings since 2014, but they were irregular and infrequent. When we started investigating, we didn’t expect this to be so gore. We didn’t expect to say that (the killings) are widespread and systematic and could amount to a crime against humanity because the scale is incredible.”

Saudi Arabia denies HRW’s critical allegations

However, Saudi Arabia has outrightly denied these allegations. The Saudi authorities said that it took the allegations significantly however strongly reject the UN’s characterisation that the killings have been systematic or large-scale, as reported by BBC.

In its reply, the Saudi authorities mentioned, “Based on the limited information provided, authorities within the Kingdom have discovered no information or evidence to confirm or substantiate the allegations.”

The heavy inflow of migrants

Yemen is at present going through one of the crucial extreme humanitarian crises globally, the place nearly all of its individuals depend upon support for his or her survival. An armed battle started in Yemen in 2014, and since then it’s alleged that each the federal government and the Houthi armed group have detained migrants in poor situations. 

Further, it’s alleged that Houthi forces typically “extort bribes” from the migrants “abusing people until they could pay an exit fee”.

In its report, HRW highlighted that in 2014 it reported cases of abuses, together with torture of migrants in detention camps in Yemen. These camps have been operated by traffickers who aimed to extort cash from the migrants.

In 2018, HRW highlighted cases the place Yemeni guards tortured and allegedly raped Ethiopian and different migrants and asylum seekers from the Horn of Africa at a detention centre in Aden. These guards reportedly labored in collaboration with smugglers to deport migrants in massive teams to harmful situations at sea. 

Further, the HRW report highlighted that in 2021, many migrants, nearly all of whom have been Ethiopian migrants have been burned to loss of life after Houthi forces launched projectiles into an immigration detention centre in Sana’a, which they managed, inflicting a fireplace. 

(Image Source – Euronews)

Furthermore, for a few years, Ethiopian migrants have been taking the harmful “Eastern Route” or “Yemeni Route” to maneuver from the Horn of Africa, crossing the Gulf of Aden and Yemen, and finally reaching Saudi Arabia. Over 90 per cent of those migrants utilizing this route are Ethiopian. While migrants from Somalia, Eritrea, and infrequently different East African nations additionally make the most of this route, Ethiopians make up the bulk. Notably, there was an increase within the variety of ladies and women taking this route in current occasions.