The kingdom last week began a clampdown on illegal migrants in order to create jobs for nationals.
About 23,000 Ethiopians have so far handed themselves in to Saudi authorities since a clampdown on illegal migrant workers began in the oil-rich kingdom last week, the BBC reported yesterday, November 14, 2013. The first Ethiopian deportees reportedly arrived in the capital, Addis Ababa, on Wednesday, November 13, 2013.
Riyadh Governor, Prince Khaled bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz, said the clampdown was aimed at illegal migrants and not any specific group. The al-Riyadh newspaper quoted him as promising that the campaign will continue until all foreigners in the country regularised their stay. Nearly a million Bangladeshis, Indians, Filipinos, Nepalis, Pakistanis and Yemenis are estimated to have left the country in the past three months. Over 30,000 Yemenis reportedly crossed to their home country in the past two weeks. Four million other migrants obtained work permits before the seventh-month deadline expired.
Clashes took place in the capital, Riyadh, with at least five people killed as Saudi authorities explained that they are trying to reduce the 12 per cent unemployment rate among nationals. An estimated nine million migrants work in Saudi Arabia. They are said to make up over half of the workforce, carrying out manual, clerical and service jobs. Radio France Internationale, RFI yesterday reported that the number of illegal aliens handing themselves in to the authorities has increased in the last days.
Meanwhile, the recent riots in Riyadh and Jeddah by illegal Ethiopian workers have prompted many Saudi families to fire their Ethiopian maids, Arab News reported yesterday. Early this week, several Ethiopian workers clashed with the police in the Manfuhah district of Riyadh, resulting in a Saudi and an Ethiopian being killed, and leaving 68 other people injured.
