Libya : Moroccan migrants start a hunger strike to protest against their delayed repatriation

Dozens of illegal Moroccan migrants in Libya started on Sunday, 27th of May, an open hunger strike, protesting against their delayed repatriation, a local official told Xinhua.

According to the same source, a delegation from the Moroccan embassy visited the migrants in April, and «collected their information for temporary travel documents» to send them back to Morocco, head of the information office of Tripoli’s anti-illegal immigration department Husni Abu-Ayana told Xinhua on Sunday.

«Their repatriation, which was scheduled before Ramadan, was delayed», said Abu-Ayana, stressing that 60 inmates in the immigration center carried out a hunger strike.

In April, the Libyan Anti-Illegal Immigration Agency announced that only seven Moroccan nationals had returned to the Kingdom in the last two weeks.

The returnees were those «who had their passports on them and who purchased plane tickets with their own money, while others are still stuck there because they couldn't meet the same requirements».

At the beginning of April, Moroccan authorities promised to issue provisional passports for migrants who don't have them, «so that they can enter Morocco through the Mitiga airport, near the Libyan capital, Tripoli».