Moroccan FM Outlines Moroccan Evacuation Efforts From Ukraine Conflict

Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita has reviewed the country’s efforts in response to the Ukrainian conflict, noting that Morocco is one of the few countries that have mobilized teams to facilitate border crossing and repatriation of its citizens.

Rabat – Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita has reviewed the country’s efforts in response to the Ukrainian conflict, noting that Morocco is one of the few countries that have mobilized teams to facilitate border crossing and repatriation of its citizens.

The community of Moroccan students is among the largest in Ukraine, amounting to 8,000 students, underlined Bourita in a presentation, for the March 3 Government Council, on the Moroccan efforts in response to the Ukrainian war.

Bourita recalled that the Moroccan Embassy in Kyiv released a press release on February 12, urging Moroccan citizens residing in Ukraine to return home due to escalation between Ukraine and Russia.

In response to the crisis, the ministry of foreign affairs organized five special flights with Royal Air Maroc, allowing 3,000 students to return home. It also created a call center to assist citizens wishing to return to Morocco.

To date, the call center has received 6,000 telephone calls while 5,000 Moroccan nationals successfully crossed international borders to neighboring countries, added the chief diplomat.

“To accompany the citizens on the ground and provide them with help and assistance, the ministry carried out a general mobilization both at the central level and at the level of the Moroccan Embassy in Kyiv and the Embassies of the Kingdom in the neighboring countries of Ukraine,” noted Bourita.

The ministry has mobilized ambassadors, diplomatic and consular staff to border access points in Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, and Poland to aid incoming Moroccans evacuating Ukraine, and issue passports to nationals in need of urgent travel documents concluded Bourita.

The diplomatic efforts to repatriate Moroccan nationals continue as the Moroccan ambassador to Kyiv held a meeting on March 2 with Ukrainian officials along with Egyptian and Palestinian ambassadors to accelerate the evacuation of Arab citizens in Ukraine.

Additionally, Royal Air Maroc is preparing for more flights on March 3-4 from Budapest, Bratislava, and Bucharest to Casablanca.