Thousands of Moroccans Stranded Abroad Amid COVID-19 Travel Ban, Plead for Repatriation

"I live in horror; I can no longer sleep," laments Ouissam. This seven-month pregnant Moroccan and her husband are stranded in Istanbul. She confides to H24info that her last visit to her doctor was in February.

"My baby hasn’t had his vaccine; I’m also worried about my grandmother [...]. We are physically, mentally exhausted, not to mention the financial impact," says Meryam. This mother, her newborn and her grandmother have been stuck in France for more than a month.

Addressing the situation of these Moroccans stranded abroad, on Monday, April 13 in parliament, the Head of Government, Saâdeddine El Otmani, announced that "monitoring is being carried out to prepare" for their return, without however communicating a date. He then asked these Moroccans to "arm themselves with patience".

"We have been patient for more than a month. We are exhausted [...]. The real psychological torture is that we don’t know when we will be able to return to [Morocco]. Our patience is running out," impatiently say Amine and his wife. They had gone to France for a simple vacation, leaving their 18-month-old baby in Morocco.

Jalil and four other Moroccans are stranded in Peru. One of his friends and him say that the Moroccan embassy took care of them during the first two weeks. "But afterwards, we were told they had no more funds. Luckily, we were helped by a good man here, who let us use his studio. But we have no more money and the cost of living is very high here. And Ramadan is approaching," explains Jalil.