About 220 Malians migrants marooned in Morocco after failing to reach Europe will be flown home on Thursday at their own request, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said on Thursday.
The repatriation of the group of Malians, in and around the Moroccan city of Oujda, will be strictly voluntary, Jemini Pandya, a spokesperson for the Geneva-based IOM, said.
”We’ve organised a voluntary return flight, for those who say they want to go home. This is a flight for 220 people,” said Pandya.
In recent days, Morroco has rounded up about 1 200 West African migrants and transferred them Oujda, near the frontier with Algeria.
Authorities in Morocco and Spain have toughened their stance towards the migrants, since groups of them stormed the high fences of Melilla and Ceuta, two Spanish enclaves in Morocco, in recent weeks.
Last Thursday, six people died as about 500 tried to cross into Melilla, some of them shot by Moroccan police in what authorities said was self-defence during a concerted assault.
About 10 000 would-be immigrants are in Morocco waiting to enter into the European Union, and about 20 000 more are in Algeria, EU security commissioner Franco Frattini said on Wednesday, citing intelligence sources. – AFP
