Morocco deports immigrants
2005-10-13 13:48
Oujda - Morocco on Thursday began flying home hundreds more Malians, continuing a wave of expulsions following attempts by crowds of African immigrants to enter Spanish enclaves in North Africa.
About 140 young men, many grim-faced, clambered aboard a chartered plane in Oudja in northeastern Morocco before the aircraft took off for the Malian capital, Bamako.
Another flight was expected later in the day, bringing to a total of about 360 Malians to be deported on Thursday. A flight carrying would-be migrants from Senegal, was to leave in the evening.
The African immigrants were picked up after attempting to rush razor-wire fences around the Spanish enclaves of Melilla and Ceuta on the northern Moroccan coast in recent weeks, and in sweeps elsewhere in Morocco, Moroccan authorities said.
- AP