Saudi Arabia: Border guards accused of massacre of migrants

Saudi border guards are accused of mass killings of migrants on the border with Yemen, according to a report by Human Rights Watch.

According to this report, as well as reports from the BBC and the Guardian, hundreds of people, many of whom are Ethiopians, crossing war-torn Yemen to reach Saudi Arabia, have died as a result of shelling by Saudi border guards. Saudi Arabia has previously denied allegations of massacres.

A report by Human Rights Watch cites testimonies from migrants who claim they were shot at and used explosives by the Saudi military. Migrants contacted by the BBC speak of horrific night crossings in which large groups of Ethiopians, including many women and children, came under fire as they tried to cross the border in search of work in the oil-rich kingdom.

“The shooting went on and on,” Mustafa Sufi Mohamed, 21, told the BBC. Some of the 45 migrants were killed when they came under fire while trying to cross the border last July, he said.

It is worth noting that before Saudi Arabia began to pursue its own independent policy, Human Rights Watch and other NGOs did not notice such incidents, nor did they notice the war that the Saudis are waging in Yemen.

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