French Expats in Morocco Face Uncertainty Over Summer Travel Plans Amid Lockdown

"Like all the French posted here, we are asking questions about this summer. Will we be able to return to the country?". Pierre Sedej, 38, expresses the concern of his compatriots. A justified concern insofar as Morocco has not yet set the date for deconfinement. However, the confinement imposed by the authorities to curb the spread of covid-19 in the kingdom has been extended until May 20.

"There is no announced deconfinement date. What is certain is that all our plans have been turned upside down," confides the history-geography teacher to the newspaper Le Républicain Lorrain. Pierre Sedej, his wife Aude, a mission officer at the embassy, and their two young children, Florent and Armand, have been confined in the kingdom since March 20, the date marking the beginning of confinement.

"Here, people are used to living outside. But from what I see, confinement is quite well respected. And the people we meet on the street observe the mandatory wearing of masks," says the expatriate, who has been posted in Morocco since 2016.