Morocco Denies Plan to Repatriate 300 Stranded Moroccans Per Week

Rabat – Minister of Health Khaled Ait Taleb has denied local news reports claiming Morocco is set to repatriate 300 Moroccans stranded abroad on a weekly basis.

Multiple outlets reported that the minister offered the 300 figure during a meeting of the Committee on Social Sectors in the House of Representatives today, May 28.

Ait Taleb said that his words were altered, stressing that the Moroccan government is working to find solutions for Moroccans stranded abroad.

He also said that the 300 figure is only a technical measure, introduced by a committee as a preliminary number and pending improvement of the health situation in the country.

He underlined that there is a technical committee working on the matter of repatriation, comprised of the ministries of health, the interior, and foreign affairs. The committee is considering “tactically and technically” the health and safety conditions that would be necessary to accommodate repatriated Moroccans in appropriate conditions, and that the process would be gradual.

The repatriation process should ensure “that all the stranded Moroccans return to their homeland in good conditions without posing a danger to themselves or citizens in the country,” the minister continued.

Ait Taleb also mentioned that the King issued royal instructions regarding all solutions in the management of the pandemic, including for Moroccans stranded abroad.

He indicated that Morocco already started to gradually bring back some of those stranded abroad in compliance with the health ministry’s COVID-19 preventive measures. The minister recalled King Mohammed VI’s instructions to repatriate all Moroccan students from Wuhan in February, at the onset of the pandemic.

He said that from a technical point of view, “this [repatriation] process has been carried out for some places,” Ceuta, Melilla, and Wuhan, “and we are operating gradually to include all the places where Moroccans are stuck.” He added that the technical committee has criteria to set priorities.