Africa: Saudi Arabia Denies Border Guards Killed Hundreds of Ethiopian Migrants, Asylum Seekers

Alexander Bee/IOM
Ethiopian migrants (file photo).
25 August 2023
allAfrica.com
By Esther Rose

Cape Town — Saudi Arabia has denounced a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report accusing the kingdom's border guards of killing hundreds of Ethiopian migrants since 2022.

The migrants were reportedly moving across the border from Yemen, into Saudi Arabia.

HRW reported on August 21, 2023, that the Saudi border guards had fired "like rain" on Ethiopians trying to reach Saudi Arabia from Yemen.

The guards were also accused of using explosive weapons as part of attacks that appeared to be "widespread and systematic", and said the killings may amount to crimes against humanity.

The Ethiopian government has meanwhile opened an investigation into migrants' and asylum seekers' deaths, following the HRW report.

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