RABAT, Aug 6, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The Moroccan navy has picked up more than
400 migrants trying to reach Spain and returned them to the North African
country, a military source said Monday.
Some of those taken ashore were “in a state of poor health” and received
first aid aboard Moroccan coastguard vessels, before being taken to ports in
the north of the country, the source said. The majority of the 424 people —
who returned to Morocco overnight into Monday — were from sub-Saharan
Africa.
Sixteen children and 53 women were among the migrants, who were in several
boats.
The number of migrants reaching Spain by sea has dropped by around 30
percent, the United Nations’ migration agency says.
In the first half of this year, 10,475 reached the country, compared to
15,075 during the same period in 2018, according to figures from the
International Organization for Migration.
More than 200 people died during the journey or were reported missing at
sea in the first six months of 2019.
Aiming to halt the arrival of migrants, the European Union last year gave
Morocco 140 million euros ($155 million) to support efforts to curb people
smugglers and irregular migration.
At the end of July, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez praised the
“efforts of the Moroccan authorities” regarding migration, in a column in El
Pais newspaper.
Morocco says it stopped 89,000 “attempts at illegal immigration” last
year, 29,000 of which were people trying to make a sea crossing.
Rights organisations in Morocco, however, frequently decry mass arrests of
migrants and their forced displacement to the south of the country.