4002 Blacksmith Drive
Garland, TX 75044
USA.
July 28, 2021.
OPEN LETTER OF APPEAL TO:
His Majesty Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud
The King of Saudi Arabia; and
His Highness Prince Mohammad bin Salman
Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.
Re: Urgent Relief Needed from Saudi Arabia by Ethiopians whose Nation had welcomed Prophet Mohamed’s Family
Your Majesty and Your Highness,
Please permit me, first of all, to express my compliments and respectful greetings to Your Majesty as well as to Your Highness and to appeal for your kind consideration of the urgent action needed regarding the desperate predicament being encountered by Ethiopians residing in Saudi Arabia. Please allow me also to politely remind Your Majesty regarding my letter dated June 21, 2017 on the same issue.
I have no doubt that Your Majesty and Your Highness are aware of the fact that some 400,000 (some estimate over 700,000) Ethiopians residing peacefully in Saudi Arabia have been required to exit from the country within a time that is so short that it has been causing abuses of human rights still requiring your government to take an urgent action to put a stop to such a tragedy.
Please allow me to remind Your Majesty that Ethiopia is a country that welcomed Arab Muslims including Prophet Mohamed’s daughter (Ruqayyah) and her husband to Ethiopia when they were persecuted in Mecca. It is a well-known historic fact that some 100 refugees from Mecca had been allowed to live in Ethiopia for as long as they wished despite an appeal by the Meccan authorities to repatriate them. It is also well known that due to the current peaceful relations, Saudi Arabia is benefiting from certain advantageous arrangements with Ethiopia. Therefore, I wonder, Your Majesty and Your Highness, if it is appropriate for Saudi Arabia to place such a heavy burden on Ethiopians who are engaged in peaceful work and life in your country.
I, therefore, appeal to Your Majesty and Your Highness to lift the sanctions imposed on Ethiopians to exit Saudi Arabia in a manner that is logically not feasible to achieve. Your Majesty’s as well as Your Highness’ concern for the respect of human rights and rule of law should be applied by ensuring that Ethiopians in Saudi Arabia are treated with the respect due to people from a country that has a mutually beneficial, historic partnership.
With the assurances of my most respectful regards to Your Majesty and Your Highness,
Yours sincerely,
Kidane Alemayehu
CC: The Honorable President of USA; CC: UN Secretary-General;
CC: H.E. Prime Minister of Ethiopia; CC: The European Unio
