'Aliens' returned by planeload
2005-10-11 21:32
Oujda - Morocco deported another group of African illegal immigrants on Tuesday.
The Moroccans sent a planeload of 140 Senegalese back home on the third such flight in two days.
More aircraft were expected to take off later on Tuesday, some loaded with illegal immigrants from Mali.
About 600 Senegalese and another 606 Malians were being temporarily housed in this border town with Algeria before being deported.
The illegal immigrants, many of whom initially slipped across the border from neighbouring Algeria, have been using Morocco as a gateway to Europe, making their way north in a bid to reach Spanish enclaves in the north.
Morocco has come under fire for its handling of recent attempts by Africans to rush barbed-wire fences at Melilla, one of two Spanish enclaves in northern Morocco. Some Africans died of gunshot wounds.
However, Morocco's communications minister, Nabil Benabdallah, has defended the use of force in dealing with a problem that he said rightfully belongs to the international community.
- AP