Berlin expresses concern
Saudi border guards are said to have murdered hundreds of migrants
08/21/2023 3:16 p.m
Saudi border guards are said to have massacred hundreds of migrants from Ethiopia, including children. Eyewitnesses report mountains of corpses along the refugee route. The Foreign Office is dismayed by the allegations.
The Federal Foreign Office in Berlin has expressed concern about a report by the human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) that Saudi border guards are said to have killed hundreds of Ethiopian migrants and asylum seekers. “We are very concerned about the massive allegations made there,” said a spokeswoman for the German Foreign Ministry in Berlin. However, one has no own knowledge of the allegations made in the report.
The Ethiopians are said to have been killed trying to cross the Yemeni-Saudi border. The Federal Foreign Office is trying to raise such concerns in talks with international partners, said the spokeswoman. She didn’t want to give any details, but added: “The Federal Foreign Office speaks very regularly with Saudi Arabia, including on human rights issues.”
According to the HRW report published in the morning, people, including children, are said to have been shot dead at close range on the Yemeni-Saudi border. Accordingly, explosive weapons were also used against migrants. The report examined the period from March 2022 to June 2023. However, recent research by HRW indicated that the killings are still taking place.
Eyewitnesses told the human rights activists about mountains of corpses along the migration route. “When Saudi security officials see a group (migrants), they keep shooting,” one of the survivors told aid workers. Asylum seekers and migrants said the migration route between Yemen and Saudi Arabia was “riddled with abuse” and under the control of traffickers.
A devastating conflict has been raging in Yemen since the end of 2014 between the government, the Houthi rebels and their allies. Despite the civil war, migrants continue to come to Yemen with the aim of reaching neighboring Saudi Arabia. The kingdom is fighting in Yemen against the Iran-backed Houthis, who overran the country in 2014 and control large parts of the north. The United Nations regards the conflict in Yemen as a humanitarian catastrophe that has brought the country to the brink of famine.