Massive Border Delay: Hundreds of Moroccan Expats Stranded for Hours at Melilla Crossing

Police sources confirmed to EFE that nearly 700 vehicles of Moroccans living abroad arrived at the Melilla border early Sunday morning, causing a massive traffic jam. In the early afternoon, some 150 other vehicles were added, bringing the total number of vehicles that arrived in the autonomous city in seven hours to 850, not counting the dozens of cars belonging to Melilla residents and the other vehicles that arrived in the city overnight.

This situation is not unprecedented at the Melilla border during the Marhaba Operation marking the return to Morocco of Moroccans living abroad for their summer vacation, the same sources say. The return phase of the Operation has already started and there are as many Moroccans living abroad transiting to Morocco as in the opposite direction, from the kingdom to Europe, explains the delegation of the government in Melilla.

A few meters from the border, hundreds of Moroccan families wait in their vehicles, under the hot sun, to cross the border and enter Morocco. Moroccans living abroad complain about the lack of shaded areas, a situation that has forced women and children to gather under a large tree a few meters from the Beni Enzar border post entrance. Moroccans living abroad also denounce the lack of water and the poor quality of services.

Moroccans living abroad also complain about the lack of information after more than nine hours of waiting. "We don’t know why we haven’t moved from the same spot since 8 a.m., no one tells us anything," laments a Moroccan living in northern France who is going to Oujda. There have always been traffic jams in Melilla during the Marhaba Operation, but the situation has worsened this year, confesses this Moroccan living abroad. Another Moroccan from Granada confirms and swears he will not go through Melilla next year.