Morocco is claiming new success in lowering the number of migrant crossings into Europe as the country works with its northern neighbor, Spain, in securing more European funding for curbing migration.
Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said the number of crossings dropped 40 percent compared with the same month last year along the western Mediterranean route, which last year became the main entry point into Europe.
Departures have dropped significantly since the beginning of this year, with Rabat claiming that its security forces have dismantled 60 trafficking networks and stopped more than 30,000 crossing attempts.
Authorities refuse to comment on the fate of migrants stopped.
In addition to Moroccans or Algerians, great numbers come from poorer sub-Saharan African countries.
Officials have repeatedly said that the country cannot be Europe’s migration police, putting pressure on northern neighbors to provide funds to manage the crisis.
Spain is reportedly seeking 50 million euros (US$56.24 million) from the EU budget for Rabat, which would be in addition to 130 million euros promised last year.
SATISFIED PARTNERS
“We are very satisfied with our partnership with Spain,” Bourita told reporters on Monday, as he stood by Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell, who was on a one-day visit to Morocco.
The funds provided to Rabat to date are “insufficient, but more significant than in the past,” Borrell said.
“Morocco helps us. We are not giving the country gifts,” said Borrell, who is one of the candidates to become the EU’s next top diplomat. “It’s a cooperation that enables the two parties to find a common interest.”
In a rebuke of what they call Europe’s “outsourcing of border controls,” advocates and rights groups have in the past criticized Morocco’s way of treating migrants, who are often arrested and sent to southern cities instead of the north, where Spanish coasts are visible across the Strait of Gibraltar.
Moroccan Legislator Brahim Boughaden from the city of Tiznit last week complained in a letter to the Moroccan Ministry of the Interior about the “negative effects” of the policies on the city.
REVOLVING DOOR
“These Africans will live for several days in dire humanitarian conditions, before leaving the city and returning to the north, repeating the same journey only to return and beg in the streets of Tiznit,” wrote Boughaden of the PJD Islamist Party.
Since last year, Moroccan authorities have also forcefully returned some migrants to Sub-Saharan countries, according to a May 21 internal EU report.
Morocco denies all accusations of humanitarian violations of migrants’ rights.
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