Houthis forcing African migrants to storm Saudi borders‏

The Saudi-led coalition has accused Iranian-backed Houthi militia in Yemen of forcing hundreds of African migrants to storm the Kingdom’s southern borders.

Col. Turki Al-Maliki told Al Arabiya TV that videos circulating on social media showing armed Houthis firing live bullets at African migrants in the northern Yemini province of Saada, proved that the militia was trying to undermine Saudi border security while attempting to provoke condemnation of the Kingdom from international rights organizations.

“The video showed the militia intentionally forced those migrants into heading into the Kingdom,” he said, adding that the Houthis also wanted to fuel Saudi public fears over the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) into the country.

“In all cases, we deal with those infiltrators or migrants according to the humanitarian principles and regulations in the Kingdom,” Al-Maliki said.

The internationally recognized government in Yemen has recently come under heavy public pressure to stem the flow of thousands of migrants into the country from the Horn of Africa region, due to concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic.

A senior government official in Aden told Arab News that the Yemeni government was unable to effectively tackle the situation because its coastguard authority was understaffed.

“This is a big problem that we cannot handle on our own. We suggested to the UN organizations to collect the African migrants from the shores and send them to Kharaz refugee camp in Lahj. We cannot do anything to stop them from coming to Yemen,” the official added.