T
he separatist Polisario Front in the Western Sahara has revealed that it has recently found 48 Gambian immigrants ''expelled from Morocco'' and now stranded in its territory in desperate need of help and medical care.
THE MOROCCAN POLICE ON
BORDER PATROL!!!!!
The Polisario Front, which seeks independence for the area says it comes across 92 immigrants including 18 Cameroonian and other West Africans not far from a Moroccan military fence wall that divides the territory in to two.
The authorities in Mauritania also disclosed that another open boat carrying 45 migrants capsized and 22 drowned. Few men were rescued.
Morocco recently expelled 2000 immigrants, which sparked concern from International Human Rights bodies and aid organisations over the affairs and that something must be done to help them as soon as possible.
According to report monitored in London, Mohamed Kheddah, Polisario coordinator for the UN force known as Minurso explained that they are ''continuing to search for more immigrants as they are aware that many more'' may be still missing in the hot desert.
Several of the immigrants he said told his group that many are still in the territory's desert when they were ''driven out of Morocco by the security forces''.
Already Morocco, has deported another group of immigrants who had failed in their bid to reach Europe sending a plane filled with dozens of West Africans including 140 Senegalese nationals.
Angry immigrants were heard shouting and accusing the Moroccan police of ''stealing their money and mobile phones'' as they were put aboard a deportation flight at a military base in the southern Moroccan city of Goulimine. This is the third flight in just two days.
Morocco has come under fire for its handling of the immigrants. About a dozen have died so far in their attempts to get to the other side, some with gun wounds.
However Morocco's Comunications Minister, Nabil Benadallah, defended the use of force of dealing with the problem.He said: ''it is not possible to fight this problem without causing humanitarian problems''. He also denied that Morocco abandoned some immigrants in the desert but acknowledge that the ''numbers involved were so large that he could not say for certain if all of them received water or food''.
Medecins Sans Frontieres or Doctors Without Borders, said that the ''Moroccan authorities last week abandoned 600 to 700 immigrants in a desert area near the border with Spain expelled from the town of Melilla and Ceuta''.
Also there are claims that certain West African governments are currently working out a ''clandestine immigration proposal'' with the Moroccans inorder to accept most of these immigrants back home in exchange for monetary incentives.
Meanwhile the British government is currently working out proposals to halt the coming into Britain by ''low-skilled immigrants outside the European Union''.
Under a new ''point sysetm'' the only way they will be allowed in will be to fill ''specific jobs when there are labour shortages'' such as on a building project.Even with that they will be accepted to stay for a maximum of a year, and will ''not be allowed'' to bring spouses or children with them.
Applicants will be placed into ''five different tiers'' with different kinds of rules and regulations applying to each. Factors to be considered includes age, qualifications, previous earnings and whether they have a job offer.
Home Secretary Charles Clarke told the House of Commons recently that the scheme was a ''good one''. He said: ''it would be fair, simpler and more transparent''.
The Home Secretary added that the scheme ''will ensure only those with the skills Britain needs come here while preventing those without these skills''.
According to government papers published, tier one inclueds highly- skilled migrants such as doctors, engineers, IT specialists.Tier two will be qualified workers such as nurses, teachers and administrators.
Tier three are low -skilled workers to fill specific job vacancies for a fixed period and ''must guarantee to leave at the end of their stay''.
Tier four will be students and special sectors such as sports people and employees of international companies based in Britain and tier five are youth mobility and temporal workers, such as working holiday makers and musicians coming to play.
All these strict rules came as a result of many factors especially when new European Union member were allowed to live and work in Britain including others on the front line applying for membership.
Therefore it is high time for most African governments to focus on socio-economic and political development of their respective countries and stop the abuse of power, flamboyance and corruption with impunity.
The African press must be allowed to perform its functions without fear of unlawful imprisonment, torture and targeted killings. It is high time to embrace democracy and freedom for a bright future. Africans deserves better.
Since the latest news many West African living in the UK who spoke to this correspondent are still wondering what their various government are doing to help remedy this dreadful situation caused by corrupt and power hungry leaders in the continent.
They consider it a shame on the part of their governemts that supposed to protect its people. Many spoke strongly against the ''unspeakable dictatorship'' in Africa and called on such governemts to resign.
A West African lecturer in London said: ''These government cannot even provide jobs or decent living for the people with all the vast riches in the continent.They are only interested in enriching themselves as a result forcing desperate young men and women to leave in numbers. Sadly they are still in power by all means necessary''.
Editor's note: This report was filed by journalist Alhagie Mbye, our UK Bureau Chief. Mbye, used to work as a senior staff reporter with the Banjul based leading Newspaper, the Independent. He was also the West Africa Magazine Banjul Correspondent.