The Foreign Ministry of Ethiopia tweeted that the government will collaborate with Saudi authorities to conduct a joint investigation into a report by a human rights group regarding the killings of hundreds of its citizens.
The ministry called for restraint and advised against making “unnecessary speculation until an investigation is completed,” stating that the two countries “enjoy excellent longstanding relations.”
A Saudi government official, speaking anonymously due to a lack of authorisation for public statements, dismissed the Human Rights Watch report as “unfounded and not based on reliable sources,” but provided no evidence to support the claim.
The US-based organisation Human Rights Watch released a report on Monday that highlighted eyewitness accounts of attacks by Saudi Arabian border guards using machine guns and mortars on unarmed Ethiopians attempting to cross into the kingdom from Yemen.
Stephane Dujarric, a spokesperson for the United Nations, referred to the report as “very concerning,” yet acknowledged that the “serious” allegations were challenging to verify.
The United Nations has already raised questions with Saudi Arabia about its troops’ use of lethal force against migrants in an escalating series of incidents along the southern border with war-torn Yemen.
In the previous year, UN experts documented “concerning allegations” that “cross-border artillery shelling and small-arms fire by Saudi Arabia security forces resulted in the deaths of around 430 migrants” in southern Saudi Arabia and northern Yemen during the initial four months of 2022.
The HRW report highlights an increase in abuses along the treacherous migrant route from the Horn of Africa to oil-rich Saudi Arabia, a place where hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians reside and work.
Calls for a Probe Washington, a longstanding ally of Riyadh, has urged for “a thorough and transparent investigation” into the allegations.
“We welcome the announcement by the government of Ethiopia, specifically, to investigate the whole issue together with the authorities in Saudi Arabia,” he mentioned.
