Morocco 'a migrant bottleneck'
2006-07-07 08:53
Rabat - Mandale, a 33-year-old Nigerian lives in a cramped room with his wife, baby daughter and brother, and dreams of a new life in Spain.
A trained pharmacist, he does odd jobs around the Moroccan capital to try to make ends meet.
In 2003, he tried to scale a fence separating Morocco from the Spanish North African enclave of Melilla, but shots were fired and he fled in panic.
He said: "God has helped us and the good people of Morocco are helping us. We go for dinner at people's houses and they give me 60 dirhams ($7) if I don't have money."
Tightened security on Europe's southern flank had left thousands of African migrants stranded and destitute in Morocco, a country already grappling with poverty and the threat of social unrest.
Morocco calling for help
By stepping up patrols along its craggy coastline, Morocco had reduced northward migration, helping to assuage European fears of a flood of immigrants.
Now, the North African country was calling for help to manage a swelling population of poverty-stricken guests.
It said a new strategy was needed to narrow the wealth divide, drawing thousands of people northwards in search of work, and planned to use a conference of European and African governments in Rabat on July 10 and 11 to call for a joint approach.
A government spokesperson Nabil Benabdallah said: "We must find not just security solutions, but solutions allowing these populations to stay at home in the framework of a real development plan, a veritable Marshall Plan for Africa."
Morocco was ill-adapted to its new role as a temporary home for the economic migrants and refugees from political turmoil in Congo and Ivory Coast.
10 000 immigrants live in Morocco
Poverty affected more than five million of the country's 30 million population and unemployment in urban areas stood as high as 25%, breeding social tension and fuelling religious extremism.
Aid groups estimated that more than 10 000 immigrants might be living and waiting in Morocco. The vast majority lacked the residence papers that would give them access to health care and regular work, and lift the constant threat of deportation.
Some were qualified doctors, teachers or former civil servants, but could hope for little more than unskilled jobs and rough accommodation.
Johannes van der Klaauw, head of the local branch of the Office of the UN High Commissioner For Refugees (UNHCR), said one flat housed 40 men who managed by sleeping in shifts.
"Morocco has become a country of destination by default. This is the first generation of new refugees and Moroccan society still has to come to grips with this."
He said the UNHCR in Morocco received about 2 000 asylum claims last year, compared with just dozens a year before, but only a minority was likely to qualify.
The Moroccan government has stopped automatically giving residence cards to recognised refugees, he added.