The Biden administration has been aware since last year that Saudi border guards were slaughtering African migrants on Saudi Arabia’s border with Yemen but kept quiet about the killings, The New York Times reported on Saturday.
Sources told the Times that American diplomats were made aware of the news last fall, around the time the US was publicly condemning Riyadh for agreeing to OPEC+ oil production cuts. The administration did not make any public comments about the reported killings.
The administration received more details about the atrocities in December 2022 when the UN presented information about Saudi forces shooting, shelling, and abusing Ethiopian migrants at the border, but the US still kept quiet.
After Human Rights Watch released a report last week that said Saudi border guards killed hundreds of Ethiopian migrants between March 2022 and June 2023, the Biden administration insisted that it “raised concerns” with Riyadh about the report. For their part, Riyadh denied the allegations.
Last month, the Mixed Migration Center (MMC) released a similar report that said Saudi border forces killed at least 800 Ethiopian migrants, and over 1,700 were injured. The Saudi guards used mortar shells and small arms to attack the Ethiopians. There were also reports of rape and torture.
According to The Washington Post, Saudi border guards are trained by the US as part of military cooperation between the two nations. The mass slaughter of civilians by US-backed Saudi forces is nothing new, as Riyadh frequently targeted civilians in its war in Yemen using US-made bombs and aircraft. In January 2022, Saudi airstrikes hit a migrant detention center in Sadaa, Yemen, killing at least 91 civilians and injuring 236 more.
Since last fall, when President Biden vowed “consequences” for Riyadh over the oil cuts, his administration has backed off on its criticism of the kingdom as it seeks to clinch a Saudi-Israeli normalization deal. Saudi Arabia is demanding new security guarantees from the US as a condition for normalization that could go as far as NATO’s Article 5, which would mean Washington treating attacks on the kingdom as attacks on the US.
Can’t upset ANYBODY linked to the multi-national oil trade, even if it means massacres and atrocities. It’s the American Way.
Thank you for writing insightful comments to my earlier posts. I appreciate that.
EVIL as evil gets… https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1be1e5504a9837801fe7136f9f757f8eea92497f3cd87bcc65c9afb5c0f91779.jpg
No fan of Saudi’s but it is a nation’s right to defend it’s borders with force especially if you’re in a war with your nieghbor.
Murdering illegal immigrants is a bridge too far. Arrest and deport, yes but murder, no.
“Murdering illegal immigrants” ? ILLEGAL being the key. If I try to crawl through your bedroom window in the middle of the night and you shoot me it’s not murder. It’s just as unacceptable to break into another country and demand resources. Sauds aren’t playing the Cloward and Piven game.
Borders aren’t property lines.
They’re just gang turf lines.
No one owes them any respect whatsoever. But that doesn’t mean it’s wise to not pretend to in any given situation.
Then the borders between Canada and Mexico are “gang turf lives”?
Absolutely.
The invaders that were lit up beg to differ.
Their Country, their rules.
FAFO
Saudi Arabia was created by Britain when they carved the Middle East up , a red line here a red line there , the Saudi`s are in power because of the US military if they ever left the Saudi`s would all be dead in a week .
Kuwait was carved out of Iraq. By the British.
Yes, the Saudi Royal family would be exterminated immediately by the Wahabists. I think we will see this if Saudi/OPEC join BRICS and dump the dollar. What does that have to do with defending a border? Not just any border but a border between Yemen/Saudi who are in a Shiite/Sunni proxy war. Yemen isn’t even in Africa so that tells me these poor African migrants getting gunned down by the hundreds were more likely jihadists recruited in Africa.
You need to learn to be a better comedian…………
Does this really surprise anyone? Murder and deception is how the Empire Of Lies functions.
Funny that we could not care less about Saudi murdering refugees, or invading a neighboring country and bombing civilians with no provocation (in fact, we assist them with this), or causing mass starvation in Yemen – but let them decide for themselves how much of their own resource they want to sell on any given day, or who they want to normalize relations with, and the US is outraged.
Whisper here: Yemen has some oil.
Saudi border guards were slaughtering African migrants
no wonder the Saudis and Israelis have been burying the hatchet lately =
they have been comparing notes
When it comes to whole sale slaughter the Americans are second to none , the United States has been built on DEATH DESTRUCTION & CHAOS millions have been killed by the US over 300 years at least to build a Empire .
I am not surprised. So it goes.