TASSC OUTRAGED BY SAUDI MASSACRES OF ETHIOPIAN MIGRANTS

Ethiopian migrants at Saudi border - 2023

By Andrea Barron

TASSC staff and survivors are outraged by the vicious attack on Ethiopian migrants by border guards in Saudi Arabia resulting in the deaths of hundreds, “possibly thousands” of innocent civilians.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that between March 2022 and June 2023, Saudi border guards fired directly and deliberately on Ethiopian men, women and children crossing into Saudi Arabia from Yemen. The HRW Report, issued on August 21, is titled “They Fired on Us Like Rain: Saudi Arabian Mass Killing of Ethiopian Migrants at the Yemen-Saudi Border.” https://www.hrw.org/report/2023/08/21/they-fired-us-rain/saudi-arabian-mass-killings-ethiopian-migrants-yemen-saudi. It documents how the guards fired on the migrants with explosives, shot others in their limbs, and forced male migrants to rape female survivors. The attacks were widespread and systematic, which makes Saudi Arabia guilty of a “crime against humanity” according to the UN definition.

Ethiopians have been migrating to Saudi Arabia for many years, crossing through Djibouti, across the Gulf of Aden into Yemen, and then into Saudi Arabia. There are approximately 750,000 Ethiopians in Saudi Arabia; most were fleeing extreme poverty in Ethiopia, some were escaping from drought, war, and human rights abuses. The women found jobs in the domestic/cleaning sector, the men mainly in agriculture or herding.

The report relied on interviews with massacre survivors, 11 videos and photographs of injuries sent directly to HRW as well as other social media posts and satellite images taken at the Saudi-Yemen border. Migrants described “scenes of horror: women, men, and children strewn across the mountainous landscape severely injured, or already dead.“ A 17 year-old boy told HRW how Saudi border guards “forced him and other survivors to rape two girl survivors after the guard had executed another survivor who refused.”

Fekade Ancho, a TASSC survivor from Ethiopia, was surprised when he heard about these massacres. “Many Ethiopians work in Saudi Arabia, including my sister’s son, who is a driver there,” he said. “What these Saudi guards did is terrible. They treated the Ethiopians like animals—these people are human beings. America and the international community need to speak out loudly about this crime. Saudi Arabia needs to compensate families of the victims.” Fekade also pointed out that the Ethiopian government has yet to denounce the massacres.

The Saudi border guards are part of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Interior, headquartered in Riyadh, so they operate as an integral part of the Saudi government, not as rogue agents. One Ethiopian survivor described the uniforms of the Saudi border guards: “The people who shot at us were Saudi government military—the uniform was multiple colors. It was like green or white or something.”

The Saudi government, of course, has denied that its border guards committed massacres, claiming that HRW’s allegations are “unfounded and not based on reliable sources.”

How has the United States, which provides $140 billion in foreign military sales to Saudi Arabia, responded to these crimes against humanity by their ally? “We have raised our concerns about these allegations with the Saudi government, the State Department said on August 21. “We urge the Saudi authorities to undertake a thorough and transparent investigation and also to meet their obligations under international law.”

This is a weak response from a State Department that was “horrified” by the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, under the orders of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Sultan. The United States needs to “condemn” these massacres, “strongly urge” the Saudis to provide medical care to Ethiopian survivors and ensure that these abominable actions by its border guard will stop. Jamal Khashoggi’s life mattered, but so do the lives of hundreds and maybe thousands of Ethiopian migrants.