Friday, March 29

An official Moroccan institution accuses the Spanish authorities of not assisting those injured in the Melilla jump

The National Human Rights Council of Morocco (CNDH, state-owned) considered that the Spanish authorities had not provided assistance and assistance to the emigrants on June 24 during the jump of the fence between the Moroccan city of Nador and the Spanish city of Melilla, which caused the death of 23 emigrants.

It is one of the preliminary conclusions of the CNDH, an official body, which presented this Wednesday in Rabat a report on the Melilla tragedy after having sent an exploratory commission to Nador and surroundings to investigate what happened.

“Based on a series of testimonies, specifically those of NGOs, the commission invokes the hypothesis of violence beyond the fence, due to the resignation or hesitation of the Spanish authorities in providing aid and assistance despite the stampede and the great agglomeration of migrants at the revolving metal doors at the border post that remained hermetically closed, which led to an increase in injuries and deaths,” said the president of the CNDH, Amina Bouayach at a press conference in Rabat.

Bouayach, accompanied by members of the commission, including a doctor, explained that -according to the testimonies- the Spanish authorities would have used violence and would not have assisted the wounded who were jumping or falling from the fence, in addition to the fact that at the time of the stampede “the doors (of access to the border crossing) were closed, but his responsibility was to open them,” he said.

In addition, the president of the CNDH confirmed the number of 23 of the deceased emigrants that the commission visualized in the morgue of the Nador hospital, and stressed that the bodies were not buried because an autopsy and DNA tests have been carried out and are in progress. .

In this sense, the Moroccan body evokes the fall of the fence or “mechanical suffocation” due to the stampede as reasons that caused the deaths, but indicates the need to wait for the results of the ongoing autopsy.

As for the injured (140 among the Moroccan public forces and 77 emigrants), the president of the CNDH assured that they all received adequate medical care.

Bouayach pointed out that the Moroccan troops did not use bullets against the migrants during their intervention.

And despite having described as “isolated cases” the videos showing the use of weapons by Moroccan agents against emigrants, the Moroccan body considered them “unjustified.”

The members of the commission also referred in their conclusions to the new methods to which the emigrants resorted, such as trying to force the gate of the border crossing instead of jumping the fence, making the attempt in the morning instead of at night and use violence.

They also exhibited a diagram of the Chinatown and the border crossing where the tragedy occurred, as well as photographs of the emigrants’ route from the mountain to the border crossing to reconstruct the events.

The president of the CNDH warned that the emigration situation “will worsen” due to poverty, wars and climate change suffered by the African continent.

The president of the Moroccan organization called for a review of migration policy and international cooperation in this area “far from a security approach.”

“Fences and gates are not going to prevent migrants from crossing into Europe. And Europe cannot close its doors and let neighboring countries manage the consequences of migratory flows”, she stated. EFE



www.eldiario.es