By Sana Elouazi
Rabat – A delegation from the Moroccan embassy in Tunis paid a visit to the Zouara detention center in northwest Libya, on Tuesday, November 28, to take the fingerprints of about 235 migrants detained in the center and verify their identity, reported the news outlet Telquel.
This is a major step forward taken by the government towards the repatriation of Moroccans stranded in Libya.
Representatives of the Moroccan embassy in Tunis crossed the Tunisian-Libyan border to reach Zouara, as was confirmed by the director of the detention center, Anouar Abu Dib and by the migrants in Libya themselves.
In addition to the fingerprints taken, passes will be given to those who did not or no longer have passports.
However, repatriation will not be immediate, according to the director and the migrants.
In August, during the previous repatriation operations, it took 20 days for authorities to obtain these documents.
Also, for safety and security reasons, it is necessary to verify their identities given that Moroccan authorities fear the infiltration of jihadists and radicals into Moroccan territory.
This initiative comes after King Mohammed VI gave his instructions to speed up the procedure.
On Monday, dozens of families of Moroccan migrants stranded in Libya protested in front of the Ministry of Foreign and International Affairs in Rabat, before being received the next day by the Minister Delegate in charge of Moroccans Living Abroad (MRE) and Migration Affairs, Abdelkrim Benatiq.
A member of local association told Telquel that no visit has been made to date in the other centers of Tripoli and Misrata, where more than 700 Moroccan migrants are still detained.
The large group of Moroccans have been stranded for months in Libya after their attempts to cross the Mediterranean to Europe failed. They found themselves the subject of human trafficking by smugglers before being detained by Libyan forces in Tripoli and the center of Zouara near the Tunisian border.
