Morocco Overlooks Repatriation of Citizens Stranded in Saudi Arabia, Sparking Outcry

The government has deployed several flights to the countries where some Moroccans abroad are blocked. For a month, this operation was a success. It will have allowed the Kingdom to repatriate 10,700 people out of the 32,000 blocked abroad, according to the delegate minister Nezha El Ouafi on July 6 in a parliamentary committee. A few weeks after the launch of this operation, Moroccans residing in Saudi Arabia feel they have been forgotten by the government, reports the newspaper Libération.

For El Hassan Rabiae, a Moroccan journalist in Riyadh, several Moroccans are now on the list retained by the Moroccan state to proceed with their repatriation. With the partial reopening of the border, many will have to pay for their own transportation. "The hitch is that the prices of plane tickets have almost tripled. A one-way ticket currently costs between 5,000 and 6,000 Saudi riyals, while previously a round trip did not exceed 3,500 riyals in high season. To this must be added the cost of the PCR test (1,450 riyals). These costs should be multiplied by three or four since a large number of Moroccans residing abroad are married and have children."

Continuing his explanations, he adds that many of these Moroccans in Saudi Arabia live in precariousness due to the long confinement period. In this regard, the workers and employees who were the first victims of the Covid-19 crisis had to terminate their employment contract and pay an "exit visa" required by the Moroccan consular services. In doing so, many have been forced to terminate their employment contracts and thus be deprived of severance pay or their salary.

Despite all these sacrifices and the difficulty of the situation, added to the hunger and lack of housing, the government has not deployed any plane to repatriate them to the country. Under these conditions, they feel they are excluded, left behind or second-class citizens.