The State Department says diplomats in Riyadh learned of the atrocities from research groups last summer, contradicting an earlier statement that the United States was not aware until December.
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The department made the disclosure in a statement on Thursday night to The New York Times in response to questions posed early this week about the U.S. government’s knowledge of the reported violence and its working relationship with Saudi Arabia’s border forces.
The disclosures are drawing the attention of American lawmakers, some of whom say the U.S. government should curtail weapons sales to Saudi Arabia, a longtime partner that is frequently accused of human rights violations, and dial back other aspects of U.S.-Saudi security and defense cooperation.
The scrutiny from Congress comes as President Biden and his aides are considering whether to enter into a robust defense agreement and civilian nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia and sell it more advanced weapons as part of an effort to get the country to normalize relations with Israel.
The United Nations gave more details on the killings to State Department officials in Washington in November, according to one person who was present at the briefing and spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private diplomatic conversations.
On Sunday, following the Times report, Representative Gregory W. Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement that “Saudi forces must immediately cease these brutal, unjustified actions and respect international law and basic human rights of migrants.”
In January, Richard Mills, the deputy U.S. representative to the United Nations, made a veiled reference to the issue, saying at a closed-door Security Council briefing on Yemen that “we remain concerned by alleged abuses against migrants on the border with Saudi Arabia.”
🤖 I’m a bot that provides automatic summaries for articles:
Click here to see the summary
The department made the disclosure in a statement on Thursday night to The New York Times in response to questions posed early this week about the U.S. government’s knowledge of the reported violence and its working relationship with Saudi Arabia’s border forces.
The disclosures are drawing the attention of American lawmakers, some of whom say the U.S. government should curtail weapons sales to Saudi Arabia, a longtime partner that is frequently accused of human rights violations, and dial back other aspects of U.S.-Saudi security and defense cooperation.
The scrutiny from Congress comes as President Biden and his aides are considering whether to enter into a robust defense agreement and civilian nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia and sell it more advanced weapons as part of an effort to get the country to normalize relations with Israel.
The United Nations gave more details on the killings to State Department officials in Washington in November, according to one person who was present at the briefing and spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private diplomatic conversations.
On Sunday, following the Times report, Representative Gregory W. Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement that “Saudi forces must immediately cease these brutal, unjustified actions and respect international law and basic human rights of migrants.”
In January, Richard Mills, the deputy U.S. representative to the United Nations, made a veiled reference to the issue, saying at a closed-door Security Council briefing on Yemen that “we remain concerned by alleged abuses against migrants on the border with Saudi Arabia.”
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