The allegations, described as “unfounded” by a Saudi government source, point to a significant escalation of abuses along the perilous “Eastern Route” from the Horn of Africa to Saudi Arabia, where hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians live and work.

“Saudi officials are killing hundreds of migrants and asylum seekers in this remote border area out of view of the rest of the world,” HRW researcher Nadia Hardman said in a statement.

“Spending billions buying up professional golf, football clubs, and major entertainment events to improve the Saudi image should not deflect attention from these horrendous crimes.”

A Saudi government source told AFP: “The allegations included in the Human Rights Watch report about Saudi border guards shooting Ethiopians while they were crossing the Saudi-Yemeni border are unfounded and not based on reliable sources.”

The New York-based group has documented abuses against Ethiopian migrants in Saudi Arabia and Yemen for nearly a decade, but the latest killings appear to be “widespread and systematic” and may amount to crimes against humanity, it said.

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

The HRW report said there was no response to letters it sent to the Saudi interior and defence ministries, the human rights commission and Huthi rebels who control northern Yemen.

In 2015, Saudi officials mobilised a military coalition in an effort to stop the advance of the Iran-backed Huthis, who had seized the Yemeni capital Sanaa from the internationally recognised government the previous year.

Yemen’s war has created what the United Nations describes as one of the world’s worst humanitarian situations.

But many of the abuses described by HRW would have occurred during a truce that took effect in April 2022 and has largely held despite officially expiring last October.

Close-Range Shooting

The HRW report draws from interviews with 38 Ethiopian migrants who tried to cross into Saudi Arabia from Yemen, as well as from satellite imagery and videos and photos posted to social media “or gathered from other sources”.

Interviewees described 28 “explosive weapons incidents” including attacks by mortar projectiles, the report said.

Some survivors described attacks at close range, with Saudi border guards asking Ethiopians “in which limb of their body they would prefer to be shot”, the report said.

“All interviewees described scenes of horror: women, men, and children strewn across the mountainous landscape severely injured, dismembered, or already dead,” it said.

One 20-year-old woman from Ethiopia’s Oromia region said Saudi border guards fired on a group of migrants they had just released from custody.

“They fired on us like rain. When I remember, I cry,” she said.

“I saw a guy calling for help, he lost both his legs. He was screaming; he was saying, ‘Are you leaving me here? Please don’t leave me’. We couldn’t help him because we were running for our lives.”

HRW called on Riyadh to “immediately and urgently revoke” any policy of using lethal force on migrants and asylum seekers and urged the UN to investigate the alleged killings.

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Human Rights Watch (HRW), an international non-governmental organisation, on Thursday, urged the President-elect, Sen. Bola Tinubu to place human rights at the centre of both domestic and foreign policy considerations.

Tinubu’s inauguration is billed for Monday, following his victory in the February 25 presidential election, according to the results declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on March 1.

HRW, In a statement published on its website, noted that the election was “blighted by logistical failures and violence at the polls”, despite repeated calls to authorities to pursue accountability for past elections-related abuses and address widespread insecurity.

“Barring a potential opposition victory in petitions to overturn election results, President-elect Tinubu, who is scheduled to be sworn in on May 29, is due to inherit a set of complex national crises including worsening banditry in the Northwest, separatist agitation in the Southeast, and the ongoing Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast.

“At this pivotal moment for Africa’s most populous democracy, President-elect Tinubu should place human rights at the center of both domestic and foreign policy considerations”, the group said.

The NGO further advised Tinubu to take aim at critical levels of insecurity, ensure protection for civilians and accountability for rights abuses, protect Nigerians’ rights to freedom of expression, and prioritise efforts toward the realisation of an adequate standard of living for all.

Also, the President-elect was reminded that Nigeria has a pivotal role to play, particularly in the West Africa region, by supporting constitutional democracies and standing up for fundamental rights and democratic freedoms.

HRW asked the former governor of Lagos state to promote the independence and respect for the rulings of African human rights institutions and regional courts, including the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court of Justice.

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