EU denies plans to build drone airbase in Morocco

EU Commission in Morocco has denied plans that it has applied for African countries on the Mediterranean to host drone airbases to track migrants to European countries, the Anadolu Agency reported yesterday.

In a statement, the Commission condemned media claims that a project is being established to locate a drone base in Morocco to control illegal immigration.

According to the statement, the EU Commission expressed its surprise at the publication of several media articles about this so-called project.

The statement said the reports were baseless, stressing that the European Commission does not have any future plans for such projects.

On Sunday, Anadolu reported that an Algerian diplomat refused an EU request to host a drone airbase aiming to track boats carrying illegal migrants through the Mediterranean.

“The EU also made the same request of Morocco and Tunisia in order to monitor the movement of boats transferring illegal migrants or drugs to France, Italy and Spain,” the diplomat added.

“European countries have asked the Maghreb countries for further cooperation to resist the phenomenon of illegal migration in hazardous conditions which lead to mass-drowning,” the diplomat said.

Around 1,750 migrants died in the Mediterranean since the beginning of 2015, a 30-fold increase over the same period last year, according to the International Organisation for Migration.