Moroccan interior minister issues instructions for stringent control of illegal emigration

Moroccan Interior Minister Driss Basri called in a note to local authorities for increased mobilization to fight clandestine emigration and dismantle webs organizing "this new form of delinquency."

In the note sent to walis (senior governors) and to all governors of Morocco, the minister said this new phenomenon, which has reached alarming proportions, harms Morocco's image abroad.

In 1997, Moroccan security services arrested 13,184 people who were staying illegally in Morocco pending an opportunity to emigrate by different means to Europe. In 1998, the figure increased by 30% reaching 17,178 individuals (mostly from sub-Saharan Africa).

The minister said the increase in the number of persons using Morocco as a transit to their illegal European trip is the result of the elaborate structures and logistics used by illegal emigration webs.

The minister's note also calls for coordination between all competent services to contain the phenomenon and reduce its extent. He said the security services should find out, in due time, the recruitment operations of potential emigrants, the sites where candidates to illegal emigration gather and are housed, the sites where the transport means (usually small makeshift boats) are hidden... He added that surveillance of land and sea borders should be reinforced.

Basri further expressed the Moroccan government's resolve to end the expansion of this phenomenon through the enforcement of a series of laws to control various aspects related to this illegal activity.

The minister had recently chaired a meeting with all security departments: police, gendarmerie, and auxiliary services.