عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Houthis Arrest 400 African Migrants, Expel them to Govt Regions

A Houthi militant walks by a press conference tackling the refugee crisis in Sanaa in mid-March. (EPA)
A Houthi militant walks by a press conference tackling the refugee crisis in Sanaa in mid-March. (EPA)
TT
20
TT

Houthis Arrest 400 African Migrants, Expel them to Govt Regions

A Houthi militant walks by a press conference tackling the refugee crisis in Sanaa in mid-March. (EPA)
A Houthi militant walks by a press conference tackling the refugee crisis in Sanaa in mid-March. (EPA)

The Iran-backed Houthi militias cracked down on Friday against a protest organized by African migrants in front of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees office in the Yemeni capital Sanaa.

The protesters were demanding that their plight in Yemen be brought up at international arenas and for the UN to investigate the arson attack committed by the Houthis against them on March 7.

Local sources in Sanaa told Asharq Al-Awsat that Houthis arrived at the scene of the protest and soon attacked the demonstrators using clubs and live bullets.

At least two protesters were killed and over 400 Ethiopians and Somalis, including 50 women, were arrested. They were taken to unknown locations.

This is the third Houthi attack against African migrants in less than two weeks. On Thursday, they attacked migrants and kidnapped others when they staged a protest against the militias’ repeated violations against them.

Witnesses said the militias transported the detainees to regions under their control in the Taiz province. They then made them walk on foot towards government-controlled areas in the neighboring Aden and Lahj provinces.

The sources did not have accurate figures over the number of migrants who were forced to leave Sanaa, but it estimated them at around 400, including women and children.

Last month, the UN called for a probe into a fire that killed at least 40 migrants at a holding facility in Sanaa, after Human Rights Watch said it was started by the Houthis.

The rights group said the detainees -- most of them Ethiopian -- had been protesting against overcrowding on March 7 when camp guards rounded up hundreds of them in a hangar.

They then fired “unidentified projectiles” into the building, it said.

HRW said Houthi security forces had locked the migrants in the building after a “skirmish” between guards and detainees. Citing migrant witnesses, it said the militants had then launched two unidentified projectiles into the building.

Most Viewed

 
Arab World

Egypt Says GERD Lacks Legally Binding Agreement

This grab taken from video shows Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, Ethiopia, Feb. 20, 2022. (AP Photo)
This grab taken from video shows Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, Ethiopia, Feb. 20, 2022. (AP Photo)
TT
20
TT

Egypt Says GERD Lacks Legally Binding Agreement

This grab taken from video shows Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, Ethiopia, Feb. 20, 2022. (AP Photo)
This grab taken from video shows Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, Ethiopia, Feb. 20, 2022. (AP Photo)

Egypt said Friday that Ethiopia has consistently lacked the political will to reach a binding agreement on its now-complete dam, an issue that involves Nile River water rights and the interests of Egypt and Sudan.

Ethiopia’s prime minister said Thursday that the country’s power-generating dam, known as the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), on the Nile is now complete and that the government is “preparing for its official inauguration” in September.

Egypt has long opposed the construction of the dam, because it would reduce the country's share of Nile River waters, which it almost entirely relies on for agriculture and to serve its more than 100 million people.

The more than the $4 billion dam on the Blue Nile near the Sudan border began producing power in 2022. It’s expected to eventually produce more than 6,000 megawatts of electricity — double Ethiopia’s current output.

Ethiopia and Egypt have spent years trying to reach an agreement over the dam, which Ethiopia began building in 2011.

Both countries reached no deal despite negotiations over 13 years, and it remains unclear how much water Ethiopia will release downstream in case of a drought.

Egyptian officials, in a statement, called the completion of the dam “unlawful” and said that it violates international law, reflecting “an Ethiopian approach driven by an ideology that seeks to impose water hegemony” instead of equal partnership.

“Egypt firmly rejects Ethiopia’s continued policy of imposing a fait accompli through unilateral actions concerning the Nile River, which is an international shared watercourse,” Egypt’s Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation said in a statement Friday.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, in his address to lawmakers Thursday, said that his country “remains committed to ensuring that our growth does not come at the expense of our Egyptian and Sudanese brothers and sisters.”

“We believe in shared progress, shared energy, and shared water,” he said. “Prosperity for one should mean prosperity for all.”

However, the Egyptian water ministry said Friday that Ethiopian statements calling for continued negotiations “are merely superficial attempts to improve its image on the international stage.”

“Ethiopia’s positions, marked by evasion and retreat while pursuing unilateralism, are in clear contradiction with its declared willingness to negotiate,” the statement read.

However, Egypt is addressing its water needs by expanding agricultural wastewater treatment and improving irrigation systems, according to the ministry, while also bolstering cooperation with Nile Basin countries through backing development and water-related projects.