Biden administration wants to know if Saudi Arabia used American weapons to kill 'hundreds' of migra

Also: Germany says it ended training of Saudi border forces after abuses reported (The Guardian)

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Source: Insider

The Biden administration wants to know if Saudi Arabia used American weapons to kill 'hundreds' of migrants

Charles R. Davis
Sat, September 2, 2023 at 12:18 PM EDT·2 min read

• The United States is investigating a report that Saudi Arabia killed "hundreds" of migrants.
• Human Rights Watch said border guards in Saudi Arabia killed scores of migrants in Yemen.
• The Biden administration is investigating whether US weapons were used in the reported attacks.

The Biden administration is demanding answers following a report that Saudi authorities may have killed hundreds of migrants in Yemen, possibly with arms provided by the United States, according to The Washington Post.

Last month, Human Rights Watch issued a report alleging that, between March 2022 and June 2023, Saudi border guards killed "at least hundreds" of Ethiopian migrants who were trying to cross into the country from neighboring Yemen. The attacks included the use of explosive weapons and execution-style killings of people who had just been released from detention in Saudi Arabia itself, the group charged.

Bill Frelick, director of HRW's refugee and migrant rights division, said he was "shocked and horrified" by the allegations, which he described as among the worst he's seen in more than 30 years.

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Read more: https://news.yahoo.com/biden-administration-wants-know-saudi-161846794.html

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Source: The Guardian

Germany says it ended training of Saudi border forces after abuses reported

Statement comes amid concern about allegations Saudi forces have killed hundreds of migrants

Kate Connolly in Berlin and Peter Beaumont
Fri 1 Sep 2023 15.56 BST
Last modified on Fri 1 Sep 2023 17.05 BST

Germany ended a training programme for Saudi border forces, who have been implicated in the mass killing of migrants at the country’s border with Yemen, after it was alerted to reports of “possible massive human rights violations”, the German interior ministry has said.

In a statement to the Guardian, the ministry said training undertaken by the federal police service for the Saudi border force had been “discontinued after reports of possible massive human rights violations became known and, as a precaution, are no longer included in the current training programme [for Saudi security forces]”.

The statement added: “At no point did any instruction or training by the federal police of the Saudi Arabian border guard take place in the border area between Saudi Arabia and Yemen.”

The German statement follows mounting international concern over allegations by UN experts and human rights groups that Saudi border forces have killed hundreds of people-trafficked migrants trying to cross the border in the last three years, claims Saudi Arabia has denied.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/01/germany-ended-training-saudi-border-forces-reported-abuses

Alternate non-walled link: https://archive.li/ndsJR