The violence has been ongoing for the past three weeks, ever since Saudi authorities launched a visa crackdown on undocumented foreign workers. With unemployment at 12 percent in Riyadh, officials there have said they want to open up jobs for Saudi nationals by reducing the number of foreign workers, which is about 9 million people.
But in the course of moving Ethiopian migrant workers to deportation stations, Saudi security forces, Army members and governmental officials have beaten, sexually assaulted and even killed their countrymen, Ethiopians in Sioux Falls say.
“They’re slaughtering them, killing them, raping the girls,” Ojulu Oballa, a businessman in Sioux Falls, said Monday before a march down Main Avenue to the office of Sen. John Thune. “If the government does not want them there, they are supposed to deport them peacefully.”
Oballa led about 80 Ethiopians and their supporters from the Museum of Visual Materials to Thune’s office. Marchers cried out “Saudi, shame on you” and “America, support Ethiopia” as many carried their country’s flag.
Ben Lee, a constituent outreach representative for Thune, accepted a letter from the group seeking the senator’s help. “We want the United States to stand with Ethiopia,” Nasser Yemam told Lee. “We want our senator to be our voice.”
Thune provided an emailed response to the request, saying: “I appreciate the Ethiopian community in Sioux Falls coming to my office today to express their support for their fellow countrymen facing hardships in Saudi Arabia. I would encourage the government of Saudi Arabia, as well as all governments in the region, to abide by international norms in the treatment of foreign nationals residing in their borders.”
Letters seeking support also were sent to the offices of Sen. Tim Johnson and Rep. Kristi Noem, though Thune’s office was selected for the march because of its proximity to participants in the downtown area.
A meeting to detail the atrocities being perpetrated in Saudi Arabia was held Sunday at the Ramada Inn, said Qadir Aware, who helped with the event. About 200 people came to that meeting, he said.
Foreign workers cannot change jobs or leave Saudi Arabia without permission from their sponsors, who are often Saudi companies or individuals providing workers to businesses for profit. According to international reports, most of the sponsors confiscate the passports of workers for the duration of their contracts.
Oballa produced a photograph that he said showed an Ethiopian migrant worker in Saudi Arabia with a deep gash across the top and side of his head.
“People are being slaughtered like a goat,” he said. “This stuff is not acceptable in the 21st century. And the U.S. government has kept silent because it did not know what was going on. But it’s been 22 days since the Saudis started this, and it’s still going on.”
He and the others would like South Dakota’s congressional delegation to pressure the State Department to help bring an end to the violence. They estimate there are as many as 2,000 Ethiopians living in the Sioux Falls area, and believe their voices deserve to be heard.
“We want some kind of action,” Oballa said. “We want the international community to know that what Saudi Arabia is doing is not right.”
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