RIYADH: Ethiopia will work with Saudi authorities to investigate allegations by a human rights group that hundreds of Ethiopian migrants were killed by the Kingdom’s border guards, the foreign ministry in Addis Ababa said on Tuesday.
Human Rights Watch published a report on Monday claiming that border troops in Saudi Arabia had used machineguns and mortars on unarmed Ethiopians trying to cross into the Kingdom from Yemen.
Saudi Arabia has rejected the claims. “The allegations included in the Human Rights Watch report about Saudi border guards shooting Ethiopians while they were crossing the Saudi-Yemeni border are unfounded and not based on reliable sources,” a government source said.
Ethiopia’s foreign ministry said: “The government of Ethiopia will promptly investigate the incident in tandem with Saudi authorities. It is highly advised to exercise the utmost restraint from making unnecessary speculation until the investigation is complete.”
The rights group accused Saudi guards posted along the Yemen border of “widespread and systematic”attacks on migrants, who use remote mountain tracks to cross the frontier by foot.
The migration route from the Horn of Africa, across the Gulf of Aden, through Yemen and into Saudi Arabia is a well established corridor for Ethiopian migrants. In 2022, Saudi authorities strongly denied UN allegations that Saudi border guards were systematically killing migrants.
About 750,000 Ethiopians live in Saudi Arabia, at least 450,000 of whom probably entered illegally, according to the International Organization for Migration. A two-year civil war in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region displaced tens of thousands of people.
