The unexpected actions of Saudi border guards

The Saudi government denied that the Ethiopians killed by Saudi soldiers were false. Saudi border guards have shot and killed many Ethiopian migrants and asylum seekers who attempted to cross the Yemen-Saudi border from March 2022 to June 2023. 

According to the research done by Human Rights Watch, the killings are still happening. The Saudi border guards have been using explosive weapons to harm and shoot people, including women and children. This behavior is happening often and in a planned way. If the Saudi government intentionally kills migrants as part of a policy, it would be a very serious crime against all of humanity. 

Sometimes, Saudi border guards would ask survivors which body part they wanted to be shot in before shooting them up close. Saudi border guards shot at migrants who had recently been released from temporary detention in Saudi Arabia and were trying to go back to Yemen.

Around 750,000 people from Ethiopia are living and working in Saudi Arabia. Many people move to new places for money, but some have left because their government treats them very badly. This happened especially during a violent fight in northern Ethiopia. 

For many years, Ethiopian migrants have been trying to travel from the Horn of Africa to Saudi Arabia through a dangerous path called the "Eastern Route" or sometimes the "Yemeni Route". This journey involves crossing the Gulf of Aden and going through Yemen. 

It is believed that more than 90 percent of the people migrating on this path are from Ethiopia. Many people from Somalia Eritrea, and sometimes other East African countries, also use this pathway. Recently, more women and girls are choosing to migrate on the eastern route.