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Morocco: Syrian refugees’ situation to be resolved

June 21, 2017 at 3:41 pm

Syrian refugees at the Algerian and Moroccan border [INP PLUS‏/Twitter]

Morocco has announced that it will find a solution for issue of the Syrian refugees stranded on its border with Algeria.

According to a statement from the royal cabinet quoted by Le Desk, King Mohammed VI called on authorities to proceed with the immediate treatment of the situation of a group of 13 families of Syrian nationality…on the basis of humanitarian considerations.”

No details were given as to how the situation would be resolved or if the refugees would be welcomed into Morocco.

The decision comes as the families have been stranded between the Algeria-Morocco border for the last few months. Algiers and Rabat have blamed each other for the humanitarian issue and accused each other of blocking the transfer of the refugees.

Read: Morocco refuses to hand over stranded Syria refugees

Earlier this month, Algerian authorities announced steps to welcome the Syrian families on humanitarian grounds into the country but blockades on the Moroccan side prevented the passage of Syrian refugees on Algerian soil despite the presence of a delegation of the High Commission for Refugees (HCR) and the Algerian Red Crescent Society (CRA).

Amnesty International denounced Morocco’s position which did not give a justifiable reason for preventing Algeria from taking the refugees in. “The Moroccan government has so far maintained that these refugees were not on its territory. Amnesty International has reviewed the publicly available cartographic data and satellite images and confirmed from the GPS data that they were well within Moroccan territory,” the NGO said.

According to the organisation at the time: “The Moroccan authorities violated their international obligations in the field of refugee protection by blocking a group of 25 Syrian refugees in a desert zone on the border between Morocco and Algeria and depriving them of the possibility of seeking Asylum and receiving emergency humanitarian aid.”

Read: Algeria accepts Syrians trapped on Morocco border

Syrian refugees in Morocco hold up a banner asking for basic rights including access to medical care and aid on 12 May, 2017 [Masr Al-Arabiya]

Syrian refugees in Morocco hold up a banner asking for basic rights including access to medical care and aid on 12 May, 2017 [Masr Al-Arabiya]