Morocco must assume its international responsibilities in the Melilla massacre: an abject crime that will stick to the Makhzen regime for a long time
Everyone remembers that red morning of June 24, 2022, when we saw chilling videos of Moroccan police and gendarmes massacring about 2000 African migrants, mostly Sudanese, who tried to cross the border fence of Melilla, which separates the Spanish enclave of North Africa from the Kingdom of Morocco.
The Moroccan repressive forces have fired live ammunition at unarmed people, and we have also seen lynchings of unprecedented violence, using racist and discriminatory expressions, against migrants visibly injured and in need of medical assistance.
The official Moroccan report mentioned 25 dead migrants, but the Moroccan associations and the migrants themselves who survived the massacre speak of hundreds of dead. Faced with this carnage, the Moroccan authorities rushed to bury these victims on the sly and in several regions of Morocco, so we know that several bodies were brought to Casablanca or Rabat.
These inhumane and abject methods are not foreign to the Makhzen regime known for its bloodthirsty and repressive character: we all remember the prison of Tazmamart* where the Oufkir family spent several decades in this institution to pay for the "crimes" committed by Colonel Oufkir. We also remember the use of chemical weapons by Hassan II against the population of the Rif in the 1980s to punish them for rebelling against him (throwing tomatoes during an official trip). This rogue regime respects nothing, it is ready to do anything to satisfy the designs of her majesty the queen of Morocco and to ensure the survival of the monarchy in Morocco.
The Makhzen regime does not respect its people, how can they respect people from poor and destitute countries who cannot pose a threat to Morocco? To illustrate my point, in 2021, Morocco had pushed to a certain death some 15,000 people of its population to invade the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, to punish Spain which had welcomed the President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, his Excellency Mr. Brahim Ghali for treatment against COVID-19.
Today, the Makhzen regime is in the posture of a frightened virgin and claims to be the victim of a conspiracy fomented by neighboring Algeria, which would have given the migrants a high level of military training, so that they "attack" the Moroccan police and cross the Spanish border. After decades of false Moroccan accusations against Algeria, we are beginning to believe that every time there is a problem in Morocco, Algeria is automatically accused of being responsible: I don't know if it was Algeria that gave the order to the savage hordes of Moroccan police to fire live ammunition at innocent people, I also don't know if it was Algeria that lynched innocent people on the ground who posed no threat to the Moroccan police Or maybe it was Algeria that bullied, insulted with the worst racist insults these African migrants whose only fault was to try to find a better life, after the atrocities of which they were victims, especially in Darfur.
By accusing Algeria once again of being the organizer of the migratory flows converging on Morocco, Morocco is insulting the intelligence of the international community, since it is common knowledge that the majority of these illegal Africans arrive in Morocco on board Royal Air Maroc planes. Indeed, in recent years, in order to encourage African countries to open consulates in the occupied Saharawi territories, Morocco has abolished visas for several African nationals. It is thanks to these new provisions, and to daily flights between Casablanca and most African capitals, that tens of thousands of sub-Saharan migrants arrive monthly in Morocco. Once they arrive in Morocco, these people are taken in by criminal gangs specialized in human trafficking. It is also well known that these criminal organizations are linked to drug trafficking organizations that are controlled by the Moroccan royal palace. The Spanish newspaper "EL ESPAÑOL" has published a comprehensive article** on this subject entitled "EL 'TOUR OPERATOR' DE LA INMIGRACION" (the immigration tour operator).
In conclusion, we believe that Morocco would do better to assume its responsibilities in the face of the atrocities committed by its police, the accusations against Algeria are neither more nor less than a crude counter-fire that no one believes and that cannot divert the world's attention on this unacceptable and unforgivable crime. Morocco will have to answer, sooner or later, before international justice.
(*) Tazmamert is a secret prison for political prisoners in the eastern Atlas Mountains of Morocco. Known for its very difficult conditions of incarceration, it was located in a desert area near Er-Rich
(**) link to the article in the newspaper "EL ESPAÑOL": https://www.elespanol.com/reportajes/20180714/tour-operator-inmigrantes-africanos-casablanca-tanger-tarifa/322468059_0.html
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