Germany announces suspension of training for Saudi border forces after reports on killing of migrants

LONDON, Sept. 03 (YPA) – The British newspaper “The Guardian” has revealed that Germany stopped training Saudi border forces after reporting violations and amid concerns about the alleged killing of hundreds of African migrants.

According to The Guardian, the German Interior Ministry said that it had ended a training program for Saudi border forces involved in the mass killing of migrants on the country’s border with Yemen after it was alerted to reports of “serious human rights violations.”

“Training conducted by the Federal Police Service for Saudi border forces was halted after reports emerged of possible serious human rights violations, and as a precaution, it is no longer included in the current training program [for Saudi security forces],” the German ministry said in a statement.

The German statement comes in the wake of growing international concern over allegations by UN experts and human rights groups that Saudi border forces killed hundreds of trafficked migrants while trying to cross the border in the past three years, which Saudi Arabia denied.

Although it was not clear when Germany decided to end the training, reports that Saudi security forces were shooting at migrants trying to cross the border from Yemen first began to emerge in 2020 and increased in 2022–2023.

YPA