Saudi Arabia 'investigating' report of massacres of Ethiopian migrants

Saudi Arabia is reportedly investigating claims that its border guards used mortars and machine guns to mow down Ethiopian migrants attempting to reach the kingdom.

Human Rights Watch say that hundreds, possibly thousands, of migrants have been gunned down or blown up by Saudi guards on the Yemen border.

The report sparked outrage around the world, with longtime ally the United States telling Saudi Arabia it must investigate the alleged killings.

Sources told Sky News that an investigation into the report is ongoing and Riyadh was taking the allegations "very seriously".

But another Saudi source rejected the accusations as groundless and not based on reliable sources, according to AFP.

HRW said it went through hundreds of videos and images from between May 2021 and July 2023, as well as analysing satellite imagery from the region where makeshift refugee camps have been set up.

"These show dead and wounded migrants on the trails, in camps and in medical facilities, how burial sites near the migrant camps grew in size, the expanding Saudi Arabian border security infrastructure, and the routes currently used by the migrants to attempt border crossings," the HRW report said.

The rights group also spoke to 38 Ethiopian migrants and others who said that guards targeted them with live rounds and explosives.

Nadia Hardman, a refugee and migrant rights researcher at Human Rights Watch, demanded an independent UN investigation into the reports to determine whether the reported killings are a crime against humanity.

Horrific report from @hrw: Migrants were “attacked by mortar projectiles and other explosive weapons from the direction of Saudi border guards…
All described scenes of horror: women, men, and children’s bodies strewn across the mountainous landscape.” https://t.co/EsutohJrwB

— Frederick Deknatel (@FreddyDeknatel) August 21, 2023

"We're talking about widespread and systematic attacks - Saudi border guards are using explosive weapons and shooting Ethiopian migrants at close range," she told Sky News.

AP studied a migrant camp in Houthi-controlled territory close to the border with Saudi Arabia and claimed that the rebel group - at war with Riyadh - is making thousands of dollars by smuggling Ethiopian migrants into the kingdom.

The International Organization for Migration believes there are 750,000 Ethiopians living in Saudi Arabia - with as many as 450,000 having entered irregularly.

Many Ethiopians have been displaced by the recent fighting in the Tigray region where massacres and rapes have been reported.