At least eleven illegal immigrants from Somalia have been killed this week as they crossed into Saudi Arabia from Yemen according to the Somali embassy in Sana’a.
Hussein Haji Ahmed, Somalia’s Deputy Ambassador to Yemen, said the bodies of eleven Somali immigrants were recovered near Yemen’s border with the oil rich kingdom. He insisted scores of others were reportedly missing. Mr. Ahmed also informed local media that hundreds of Somali immigrants caught slipping into Saudi Arabia were systematically abused with many either killed, tortured or kidnapped by Saudi and Yemeni forces and sometimes by rebel groups.
The ambassador added women fleeing the conflict in Somalia were often sexually abused as they tried to cross the border. He said he discussed the matter with both Saudi and Yemeni security personnel. He claimed that the two countries pointed fingers, each claiming the other was responsible for the abuse.
Mr Ahmed declared that Arab security forces were behind the killings of the Somali immigrants. The ambassador also criticized Somaliland and Somalia’s semi-autonomous region of Puntland accusing them of refusing to accept southern-Somali refugees returning from Yemen.
Finally he called on international right groups to investigate the abuses and bring those responsible to justice.
Thousands of Somalis fleeing drought, famine and violence flood into Yemen every month despite its own humanitarian crisis. In total, the United Nations estimates around 200,000 Somali refugees are now in Yemen with many using the historical migratory route to else where to seek a better life.
Classified as a failed state, Somalia has not had a functioning central government for more than 20 years and has been wracked by fighting between various militias and the ever increasing list of mini-states.
Source: Somalilandpress
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