La Marina marroquí rescata a casi un centenar de migrantes en el Mediterráneo
"The Royal Moroccan Navy rescued, on Wednesday night to Thursday in the Mediterranean, 93 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa who were on board improvised boats," the Moroccan news agency MAP reported. The group included 15 women and several minors, whose ages were not specified. The authorities transferred the migrants, who were "unharmed" to the port of Nador in the northeast of the country, "after receiving the necessary care on board the navy units," according to MAP, which cites a military source.
The news of this rescue coincides in time with the information that 14 migrants from Laâyoune who were rescued by the Spanish authorities from the Canary Islands have tested positive for coronavirus. This is significant because "until now, this health control had revealed sporadic infections, from one to two cases per boat carrying 25 to 50 people, sometimes more", as revealed by the Spanish news agency EFE.
The Kingdom has recently intensified efforts to combat irregular migration from its coasts to Spain, which, it should be remembered, is still considerable. During 2019, the Moroccan Navy aborted some 74,000 attempts to reach the neighbouring country, according to data from the authorities, which meant a reduction of arrivals in Spain by 60%. Recently, several operations have been carried out to stop the activity of the mafias and human trafficking networks, which are behind this migratory flow. One of the latest took place on 11 June, when the police arrested four suspects "for alleged links with a criminal network active in irregular migration and fraud in Laayoune", in southern Morocco. "Our security action is not against migrants, because we think they are victims. Our action is mainly aimed at the networks of human traffickers who do not hesitate to take advantage of the vulnerability of these migrants. They exploit them and always ask for more funds from their families," declared Khalid Zerouali, the director of immigration and border surveillance at the Alaouite Ministry of the Interior, last February.
Before the outbreak of the coronavirus crisis in the world, the number of people trying to reach Spain by crossing the Mediterranean from Morocco had increased significantly. Between the nights of 27 and 28 January alone, another 210 clandestine migrants were intercepted by the Royal Navy's coastguards.
It should be mentioned at this point that Rabat has also received assistance from the European Union this year to combat irregular migration. In January, it became known that Brussels was going to send 750 tankers and 15 surveillance drones to the Kingdom, as well as other devices dedicated to monitoring migratory flows. In 2019 alone, the EU mobilised 140 million euros for Morocco, and by 2020, another 100 million euros have been agreed.