From March 2022 to May 2023, “hundreds” of Ethiopian migrants trying to enter Saudi Arabia were killed by Saudi border guards, Human Rights Watch (HRW) denounced in a report, published on Monday, August 21. Migrants were trying to enter the wealthy Gulf monarchy via the border with Yemen.

The Saudi authorities dispute the facts reported by the NGO. “The allegations in the report” are “unfounded and not based on reliable sources,” a Saudi government source said.

The United States, longtime partners of the Gulf monarchy, quickly responded by calling for an investigation. “We have raised our concerns about these allegations with the Saudi government,” a State Department spokesperson said. The UN called the report “very disturbing”. He is making “very serious” charges, a United Nations spokesperson said on Monday, noting, however, that it is difficult to “confirm” these allegations.

Hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians work in Saudi Arabia, sometimes taking the “eastern route” from the Horn of Africa to the Gulf, via Yemen, a poor country at war for more than eight years.

In its 73-page report, HRW relies on interviews with 38 Ethiopian migrants who attempted to cross into Saudi Arabia from Yemen, satellite images, and videos and photos posted on social media “or collected from other sources “. Interviewees spoke of “explosive weapons” and point-blank shooting, with Saudi border guards asking Ethiopians “what part of their body they would prefer to be shot at”.

“Saudi authorities are killing hundreds of migrants and asylum seekers in this remote border area, out of sight of the rest of the world,” HRW migration specialist Nadia Hardman said in a statement. The “billions spent” on sports and entertainment “to improve Saudi Arabia’s image” should not distract from “these horrific crimes”, she blasted.

NGOs regularly accuse Riyadh of investing in major sporting and cultural events to “divert attention” from serious human rights abuses and the humanitarian crisis in Yemen where the Saudi military is involved. The “widespread and systematic” killing of Ethiopian migrants could even constitute a crime against humanity, HRW believes.

“The use of potentially lethal force for law enforcement purposes is an extreme measure to be used only when strictly necessary,” the OHCHR spokeswoman said. ‘UN for Human Rights, Liz Throssell. “Attempting to cross a border, even if illegal under national law, does not meet this requirement,” she added.

Already last year, UN experts reported “worrying allegations” that “cross-border artillery fire and small arms fire by Saudi security forces killed an estimated 430 migrants”. in southern Saudi Arabia and northern Yemen during the first four months of 2022.

Northern Yemen is largely controlled by the Houthis, rebels fought since 2015 by Saudi Arabia which supports pro-government forces. Migrants told HRW that these forces collaborated with smugglers and extorted money from them or transferred them to what migrants describe as detention centres. They claimed that people were abused there until they could pay an “exit fee”. The Houthis have denied working with the smugglers, describing them as “criminals”.

In the testimonies collected by the NGO, migrants recount scenes of horror: “Women, men and children scattered in the mountainous landscape, seriously injured, dismembered or already dead”. “They were shooting at us, it was like a rain [of bullets],” said a 20-year-old Ethiopian woman quoted by HRW. “I saw a man calling for help, he had lost both his legs,” but, she says, “we couldn’t help him because we were running for our own lives.” .

People traveling in small groups or alone said border guards beat them with rocks and metal bars, the report said. Fourteen people interviewed either witnessed or were themselves injured by point-blank fire, adds HRW.

Some said Saudi border guards came down from their observation posts and beat survivors.