Saudi migrant route

Migrants from Ethiopia disembark from a boat onto the shores of Ras al-Ara in Yemen en route to Saudi Arabia in 2019. Nariman El-Mofty/AP  

Saudi migrant route  

Saudi border guards accused of massacres 

Saudi border guards are accused of killing hundreds of Ethiopian migrants along the border with Yemen, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch. The Guardian reports. 

According to the report, border guards systematically shot at migrants when they tried to cross the border into Saudi Arabia from Yemen. Testimonies tell of body parts and dead people left scattered along trails. 

One of the lead authors behind the report, Nadia Hardman, says the findings behind the report are "abhorrent".  

- I report on border violence but I have never come across anything like this before in terms of the use of firearms against women and children, she said.  

Saudi Arabia has previously rejected accusations of systematic violence against migrants.  

Witness: "The shootings just went on and on"  

Several people the BBC has spoken to describe how Saudi border guards have fired at groups of migrants as they tried to cross the border from Yemen into Saudi Arabia. In a new report from Human Rights Watch, the guards are accused of systematically and extensively subjecting African migrants to violence.  

One person the BBC has spoken to is 21-year-old Mustafa Soufia Mohammed from Ethiopia who was shot while trying to cross the border. Several in his group of 45 migrants were killed when they came under fire last July.  

- The shootings just continued and continued. I didn't even notice that I was shot, but when I tried to get up and walk, part of my leg wasn't with me, he says.  

The report, which covers the period from March 2022 to June this year, details 28 separate incidents involving weapons and 14 shootings at close range.