Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

Moroccan-Algerian Dispute on Syrian Refugees Continues | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Residents walk as they flee Maskana town in the Aleppo countryside and make their way towards the Turkish border in Tel Abyad town, Raqqa governorate, June 16, 2015. REUTERS/Rodi Said –


Casablanca – In response to the Algerian escalation, Morocco published photographs showing the involvement of the Algerian army in the Syrian refugee crisis on its borders.

The images shown on the Medi1TV channel, taken from the Moroccan side of the borders, revealed Algerian military trucks and vehicles likely to be used to transport Syrian refugees that are thrown into the buffer zone along the border between the two countries.

Morocco has summoned the Algerian ambassador to Rabat to express its worry about Algeria’s attempt to expel 55 Syrian who “illegally” entered the country.

In a statement, the Moroccan Foreign Ministry said that 55 Syrians tried to enter Morocco from Algerian between 17 and 19 April near the desert town of Figuig after Algerian authorities forced them out.

Rabat condemned its neighbor’s “inhumane behavior” towards the migrants who included “women and children in a very vulnerable situation.”

In response to these accusations, the Algerian Foreign Ministry called in the Moroccan envoy to Algiers later to reject the accusations, saying Moroccan officials had tried to dispatch a group of Syrians over the border from Morocco into Algeria.

“He was given a categorical denial of the false allegations, and it was shown they were totally unfounded and aimed at harming Algeria,” the statement on APS state news agency said.

A human rights source in Figuig told Asharq Al-Awsat that the refugees received aids from the citizens and some humanitarian institutions in the city.

He pointed out that they were 60 in total, including six women and 13 children.

Syrian refugees besieged in that area have been suffering, and many humanitarian and human rights organizations appealed to the authorities of the two countries to end this human tragedy and to find a formula for cooperation to resolve the Syrian refugees’ crisis.