News - Middle East: The United States tried to evade the crime of killing hundreds of immigrants on the Yemen-Saudi border.  It holds its Saudi ally fully responsible for these crimes, after Human Rights Watch documented that Saudi Arabian border guards have killed hundreds of Ethiopian migrants, including women and children, who attempted to enter the kingdom along its mountainous border with Yemen.

According to Western media, a State Department spokesperson said the US had raised concerns about the allegations in the report with the Saudi government. As is the US habit of covering up the crimes of the coalition of aggression against Yemen for nine years, the ministry had urged the Saudi authorities to undertake a thorough and transparent investigation and also to meet their obligations under international law.

The US State Department claimed that the land border guards implicated in the report did not receive any US government funding or training.

Although the US is a security partner for Saudi Arabia, it constantly criticizes the kingdom's human rights record through the media, and holds its ally responsible for any crimes that appear to the public.

UN Timidly Concerned

United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric called the HRW report "very concerning", but noted the "serious" allegations were difficult to verify.

The UN rights office has "been monitoring the issue for some time", spokeswoman Liz Throssell told AFP via email.

"The use of potentially lethal force for law enforcement purposes is an extreme measure that should be resorted to only when strictly necessary," she said. "Attempting to cross a border, even if unlawful under domestic law, does not meet this requirement."

UN officials have ignored reports and communications received over the years from local human rights organizations and official bodies, in addition to media reports that documented the Saudi regime's crimes against Yemeni civilians and migrants in the border areas.

A report by Human Rights Watch recorded how Saudi border guards killed at least hundreds of Ethiopian migrants and asylum seekers who tried to cross the Yemen-Saudi border between March 2022 and June 2023.

The 73-page report, "They Fried on Us Like Rain: Saudi Arabian Mass Killings of Ethiopian Migrants at the Yemen Border," found that Saudi border guards have used explosive weapons to kill many migrants and shot other migrants at close range, including many women and children, in a widespread and systematic pattern of attacks. In some instances, Saudi border guards asked migrants what limb to shoot, and then shot them at close range. Saudi border guards also fired explosive weapons at migrants who were attempting to flee back to Yemen.

In July 2022, the International Organization for Migration, affiliated to the UN, revealed the killings of dozens of immigrants at the hands of Saudi forces, in the northern Sa’adah Governorate, during the last three months.

The organization said in a brief report, on Twitter, that it had verified nine separate incidents that resulted in the killing of 189 migrants and serious injuries to 535 migrants at the Yemen-Saudi border with the northern Yemeni governorate of Sa’adah.

Despite the large number of victims, the organization estimated that the number of immigrant victims as a result of Saudi forces targeting them with artillery, machine guns, and live bullets would be much more than that statistic.

 

Al-Masirah Documents Saudi Crimes on Borders

Al-Masirah network has documented dozens of crimes committed by Saudi Arabia during the truce period against dozens of Yemenis and displaced persons, as well as African migrants in the border areas north of Saada governorate.

Last November 2022, Al-Masirah channel obtained scenes of the Saudi regime targeting and liquidating African migrants at its borders.

The scenes showed dozens of bodies killed by Saudi border guards. They also showed that the Saudi border guards handcuffed dozens of Ethiopian immigrants, believed to be moments before they were killed.

African survivors of the massacre confirmed that the Saudi soldiers deliberately electrocuted a room after collecting dozens of Ethiopian immigrants in it.

They pointed out that the Saudi border guards used to shoot directly and often used mortars to eliminate gatherings of migrants, stressing that about five migrants are killed every day at the border and many are injured.

 

#Yemen #UN #US #Saudi Arabia #Migrants About 1 year