RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Nov. 29 (UPI) -- A labor purge in Saudi Arabia will drive out more than 2 million migrants, notably Ethiopians, who say they face hostility from Saudi officials.
Until recently, 9 million of the kingdom's 30 million residents were non-Saudis, but since the crackdown began in March, 1 million Bangladeshis, Indians, Filipinos, Nepalis, Pakistanis, Yemenis and Ethiopians have left, with dozens of repatriation flights leaving Saudi Arabia daily. By next year, 2 million migrants will have departed, the British newspaper The Guardian said Friday.
The Ethiopian governments reported this week 50,000 of its nationals have been sent home, with 30,000 more expected.
Incidents in Saudi Arabia involving Ethiopians are reported regularly on Twitter, YouTube and mainstream media outlets, the newspaper noted.
Ethiopians say they have been beaten and robbed, and are subject to routine abuse and mistreatment by Saudi employers. Protests have been held outside Saudi embassies in several countries.
Saudi Arabia's welcome of cheap foreign labor goes back to the oil boom and its religious awakening in the mid-1970s, but in recent years has been seen as a problem distorting an economy that keeps young Saudis out of the job market, the newspaper said.
