Diallo is a survivor. I tried to reach Europe by sea and land. He even entered Ceuta twice, but was warmly repelled by the Spanish police. Morocco. He also got on a boat to reach the ship. Canary Islandshowever, bad weather caused them to lose their course and spend five days in the ocean before being rescued by the Moroccan coast guard. 10 people traveling died in the same boat. He regrets that he wasn’t lucky enough to get into Europe like his other friends did. He sums up his life in Morocco as “daily suffering”.
It’s been five years since she broke up Guinea-Conakry, and now waiting for the moment to return home. “If there is no solution, there is nothing we can do. Such is life,” complains Diallo (fictional name). His father is sick and wants to see him again. He tells that he is the youngest in the family, 27 years oldand that he’s lost two of his brothers since he broke up. “Therefore, I decided that if my father dies, he will do it in front of me, even if he is in poverty.”
explain it Financial The route has become “too complicated”, especially because of the mafias: “They sell you to others, put you in jail, and you can’t get out unless nobody pays for you.” He crossed the desert on foot because he was robbed and didn’t have the money to drive. Walked in the desert for more than two weeks: “A person I was with is left behind and I don’t know if he’s alive or dead. Everyone there is looking for a way to survive.”
morocco border
when you try to cross Algeria To Morocco via the Oujda city area “it was like a movie“, account. There is a fence there, and the Algerian police say that when they caught you, they beat you and sent you to the desert hundreds of kilometers away. On the third try, he succeeded. In Morocco, he traveled across the country to find a way to Spain, sought a life for four years, and the police He was marked by his forced transfer away from Spain. border.
jumped over the fence Ceuta twice. “I went next to the big forest with other people, I walked three kilometers through the Ceuta forest until the Spanish police caught me, they took me back to Morocco and they sent me by bus to Tan Tan (more than a thousand kilometers south of the country),” he explains. It was the end of 2021, when he managed to enter for the second time, but they also returned hot.
In Morocco he worked several times in the tomato fields in the southern city of Agadir. You they paid six euros a day to work eight hours a week without a break. “The bosses could do whatever they wanted. If you don’t have a certificate, you have no honor.You can’t even talk to the police if you have a problem,” he explains.
heading for the canaries
He left with the money DakhlaHe attempted to cross over to the Canary Islands in January 2022, south of Western Sahara. That day, it was only God who helped me.“, Remember. There were 48 people, including women and children. After a two-day sea voyage, they lost their way due to heavy waves and decided to turn back.
“We spent almost five days at sea in total. Many were frightened, cried, some jumped directly into the water, others died in the boat“We had neither water nor food,” says Diallo. Ten people died. “I thought we were all going to die there. I immediately started repeating: There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet.“, reckoning. One of Islam’s most important sayings is also said when someone assumes they are going to die. “We finally met the Moroccan Navy, who saved us,” he explains.
When he learned that his ninety-year-old father was ill, he made the decision to return home in Dakhla. He managed to reach Rabat and there he sought help from IOM (UN International Organization for Migration). voluntary return.
in 2021 2,457 people immigrants Those in Morocco voluntarily returned to their country of origin, according to the latest IOM report. The majority are from Ivory (657), Guinea (598) and Senegal (367). Funded by the EU and other European countries such as Spain, this is the highest figure since the program was launched in 2005.
“My luck is not here”
Mohamed (not his real name), also from Guinea-Conakry, made the same decision as Diallo in El Ayoun, Sahrawi. I tried many times, my friends tried and they got to Europe but I didn’t. If I keep trying and pushing, maybe one day I’ll die in the ocean and it’s all over.So I think my chance is not here. God didn’t want it to reach Europe,” he explains.
This 38-year-old man is physically but especially mentally exhausted. He lives in a small house he shares with three people in one of the poorest neighborhoods in the world. Rabat. He worries because he doesn’t know how to pay the rent in four days. He is barely leaving his house for fear that the police may arrest him for not having a home.
It’s been six years since he left his country by plane to take a chance, take risks and start over. He spent three years in El Aaiún and tried to cross from there several times with a boat. Either the police stopped them before they set sail, or they were rescued by the Moroccan navy. Moreover they defrauded him for 1,500 euros, when he paid a man to pass, but he was never heard from again. He explains that he’s quiet in the city because the police don’t think he’s an immigrant because he looks like a Saharan.
The worst attempt was when they were. three days drift lost, before being rescued by Moroccan fishermen. Authorities often sent them by bus to towns hundreds of kilometers inland. Explain while he’s in Tangier, the police broke into the house where they slept in the morning, broke the door and took them all to Tiznit, about 900 kilometers away. “It was the month of Ramadan,” he exclaims angrily.
It is now waiting in Rabat to return to Guinea-Conakry. When I entered his country, Mohamed wants to start a small business With help from IOM. She’s also looking forward to seeing her two kids, 11 and 10, who have been watching their growth from their phones over the past five years. “I wanted to go to Europe to send them money, I would be proud, but that was not possible and it bothers me a lot,” he complains.