Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08CASABLANCA71
2008-04-10 15:10:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Consulate Casablanca
Cable title:  

CLANDESTINE MIGRANTS FACE GROWING ASSAULTS

Tags:  PGOV PHUM PINR PREL PREF SMIG MO 
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DE RUEHCL #0071/01 1011510
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 101510Z APR 08
FM AMCONSUL CASABLANCA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8030
INFO RUEHAB/AMEMBASSY ABIDJAN 0004
RUEHUJA/AMEMBASSY ABUJA 0208
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS 2979
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO 0870
RUEHFN/AMEMBASSY FREETOWN 0037
RUEHKI/AMEMBASSY KINSHASA 0004
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0365
RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID 3797
RUEHNK/AMEMBASSY NOUAKCHOTT 2340
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT 8281
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS 2099
C O N F I D E N T I A L CASABLANCA 000071 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/10/2018
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR PREL PREF SMIG MO
SUBJECT: CLANDESTINE MIGRANTS FACE GROWING ASSAULTS

REF: A) 07 Casablanca 00193
B) 06 Casablanca 01333

Classified By: Principal Officer Douglas C. Greene for Reasons 1.4
(b),(d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L CASABLANCA 000071

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/10/2018
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR PREL PREF SMIG MO
SUBJECT: CLANDESTINE MIGRANTS FACE GROWING ASSAULTS

REF: A) 07 Casablanca 00193
B) 06 Casablanca 01333

Classified By: Principal Officer Douglas C. Greene for Reasons 1.4
(b),(d).


1. (C) Summary: In recent weeks, assaults have plagued the
sub-Saharan community in Rabat. In one case, according to reports, a
Nigerian clandestine migrant resisted arrest during a periodic
roundup and was severely beaten before being taken into custody. As
a result of the beating, the migrant later died of internal bleeding.
In another recent incident, a gang of machete wielding Moroccan
youth, reacting to an altercation between a Moroccan landlord and his
sub-Saharan tenant, roamed a neighborhood in search of "black men" to
retaliate against. The growing friction points to the stress that
increasing numbers of sub-Saharan migrants creating in some areas of
Morocco. End Summary.

--------------
Roundups, Refoulements and the Death Blow
--------------


2. (C) According to NGOs and international organizations, there are
thousands of sub-Saharan living in Rabat. These sub-Saharan
clandestine migrants, refugees and asylum seekers tend to live
together in poor communities and keep a low profile, due to the
persistent threat of refoulement and abuse. That said, this
situation has changed somewhat according to UNHCR Chief of Mission
Johannes Van Der Klaauw. Van Der Klaauw claims the police still
arrest some recognized refugees during the periodic roundups but the
authorities check with UNHCR to confirm the identity of any migrant
they suspect may be under the protection of UNHCR. Once their status
is confirmed, the refugees are released and allowed to return to
their Rabat homes.


3. (C) In recent years, these roundups have become more frequent as
more sub-Saharans, hoping to travel to Europe, become trapped in
Morocco due to tighter security measures on the Moroccan-Spanish land
and sea borders. In these sweeps, GOM authorities periodically
arrest groups of sub-Saharan migrants, mainly in Rabat, bus them to

the region near the Moroccan city of Oujda, and abandoned them in the
desert on the Moroccan-Algerian frontier with no means of survival.


4. (C) One recent roundup ended in the death of a Nigerian migrant
named Osauwense. According to multiple sources, on February 2, 2008,
Moroccan police entered the Takkadoum neighborhood in Rabat and
arrested more than 500 clandestine migrants. Witnesses recounted
that Osauwense resisted arrest during the sweep, refusing to board
the police vehicle. Osauwense's passive resistance resulted in a
severe beating at the hands of the Moroccan police. Neighbors
speculated Osauwense resisted arrest due to his fear of being
abandoned in the desert.


5. (C) Moroccan authorities reportedly dumped Osauwense and the
others arrested at the border the day after the roundup. Osauwense
partnered with another migrant and began the long journey back to
Rabat. According to Pastor David Brown, who assists clandestine
migrants in Morocco, Osauwense died somewhere between Rabat and Fez,
shortly after his traveling companion brought him to a hospital. The
hospital confirmed that he died of internal bleeding, a result of the
beating at the hands of the police.

-------------- --------------
Machete Wielding Gangs Search for Black Men to Cut
-------------- --------------


6. (C) In a separate incident, in the same Takkadoum neighborhood,
sub-Saharan migrants reported that a group of young Moroccan men
scoured the neighborhood on Sunday, March 30, looking for "black men
to attack." The hunt launched after an Ivorian migrant exchanged
blows with his Moroccan landlord. Word quickly spread and soon
Moroccan youth, armed with machetes, were roaming the neighborhood
and attacking sub-Saharans. Julie Brown, a registered nurse who
offers free medical assistance to migrants in Morocco, told poloff
that she treated three sub-Saharans with machete wounds on Tuesday,
April 1. She said the migrants refused to report the incident to the
police for fear of being deported.


7. (C) A similar incident occurred in late 2007. After a young
sub-Saharan woman was robbed by a Moroccan youth, sub-Saharan
witnesses reported the incident to the boy's parents, after following
him home. In retaliation, the Moroccan gathered 10-15 of his friends
and began a machete assault on the same neighborhood. Two hours
after the attacks began, Pastor Brown received an SOS from a member
of the migrant community. He immediately called the Rabat police to
inform them of the ongoing assault. According to Brown, the police
arrived some four hours after his call, when the attacks had
subsided. Numerous sub-Saharans were injured in the assault,
according to the Browns.

--------------
Comment
--------------


7. (C) Comment: While the GOM, in cooperation with the International
Organization for Migration (IOM),has successfully repatriated over
8000 migrants voluntarily since 2004, estimates of nearly 20,000
sub-Saharans still in the country leave the GOM stymied. The
migrants, as well as the refugees and asylum seekers, add pressure on
a system that is struggling with increasing food prices, a growing
population of unemployed youth, and the threat of extremism.
Officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently told poloff
that the GOM simply does not have the money to deal with the migrant
problem. Until the EU is more willing to help, they say, nothing
more can be done to improve the situation. End Comment.

GREENE