Belgian Mother and Young Children Stranded in Morocco Amid Border Closures

Arrived in Morocco for a one-week stay to visit her husband Fouad’s family, Kathy Frère has been stuck there for six weeks with her two daughters. The one-week vacation quickly turned into a nightmare, due to the closure of borders that prevents her from returning with her children. "I can’t get repatriated with my children, I’m desperate," says this 39-year-old mother, for whom confinement is a real ordeal, reports the newspaper La Meuse.

In an effort to get repatriated to Belgium, Kathy registered with the Belgian embassy. Despite the health reasons of her youngest daughter, asthmatic, and the fact that she herself has to attend health appointments, added to the risk for her husband of losing his job, she was unable to prevail, she regrets. The repatriation of her husband was refused, while she was offered to return alone. But there is no question for her to return without her children. She feels abandoned by Belgium and Morocco.

Kathy is finding this confinement very difficult, because she wants to see her loved ones who remained in Belgium, although she is in touch with them via Messenger. In Morocco, only her brother-in-law has an exit permit to go shopping for everyone, while they are 14 in the house, she confides, desperate. There are 10,000 Belgians stuck in Morocco living this difficult situation. 1,400 repatriation requests have received a favorable opinion from the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Defense, Philippe Goffin.