Moroccan Police Kill Human Rights Worker and Strand Hundreds of Immigrants in Desert

Concerned Migrants Group(C-M-G)Worldwide announced the death of one of their members at the hands of the Moroccan police. Mr. Osauwense (a.k.a. 2Pac), was a Nigerian immigrant. He left his house in Rabat to shop at a nearby mall when he was detained by Moroccan police. He was then taken to a police facility where he was beaten to death. Mr. Osauwense was among 512 immigrants arrested and abandoned in the desert on the Morocco/Algeria border on February 2, 2008. The immigrants were left without food, clean water or any means of survival.(1) - concerned_migrants [at] yahoo.com.
When hundreds of Africans attempted to enter Ceuta and Melilla in October 2005, at least 13 sub-Saharan Africans died, some of them allegedly killed by border guards. After these events, the Moroccan authorities turned to nationwide raids and arrests of immigrants in cities and makeshift camps in the forests around Ceuta and Melilla. A group of an estimated 1,500 migrants were deported and subsequently abandoned in the Moroccan desert. (2) - http://www.migrationinformation.org/feature/display.cfm?ID=484
In December 2006 the advocacy organization Association of Moroccan Workers in France reported that 450 immigrants were abandoned in the desert area along the Algerian border near Oujda. The organization reported that the group was fired on by Algerian soldiers and that some women were abused or raped by both Moroccan and Algerian policemen as well as a Nigerian gang at the border. The government denied that these events occurred.(3) US State Dept. Country Reports on Human Rights Practices on Morocco - 2007
According to different estimates, between 65,000 and 120,000 sub-Saharan Africans enter the Maghreb (Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, and Libya) yearly, of which 70 to 80 percent are believed to migrate through Libya and 20 to 30 percent through Algeria and Morocco. The sub-Saharan African immigrants are motivated by wide-spread wars, persecution and poverty in their native countries. Meanwhile, the United Nations Human Rights Council does worse than nothing, it is withdrawing support from nations where the sitting government doesn’t ask for help.
(Geneva, March 27, 2008) – “The UN Human Rights Council’s failure to renew the mandate of the expert for the Democratic Republic of Congo is a betrayal of its responsibilities toward the Congolese people, Human Rights Watch said today.
“The council’s decision flies in the face of the serious human rights violations that continue in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Despite historic elections in 2006, Congo’s human rights situation remains deeply troubling. In the past year alone, hundreds of civilians have been killed and thousands of women and girls raped by militia groups and soldiers of the Congolese army. An estimated 30,000 children continue to serve as child soldiers in various armed groups.
“In eastern Congo, the signing of a ceasefire agreement in Goma on January 23, 2008 raised hopes that the armed conflict would be contained, but tensions have again mounted as details emerged of renewed killing of civilians in the region. These add to the estimated 5 million civilian deaths throughout the country since 1998, a toll that makes Congo’s conflict more deadly to civilians than any other since World War II.
“In western Congo, security forces used excessive force to put down at times violent protests by the political-religious group Bundu Dia Kongo, resulting in the deaths of at least 68 people, according to United Nations estimates. Thousands of people have been displaced.
“ ‘The Human Rights Council should be expanding its work on Congo, not abandoning it,’ de Rivero said. “ ‘Congo urgently needs independent human rights expertise, which could help to save lives.’ ”(4) http://www.hrw.org/doc?t=africa&c=congo
The Moroccan Monarchy’s atrocious violations of human rights and the U.N.’s failure to do anything about it is well chronicled in the conflict between Morocco and Western Sahara. There are several previous articles on the 32 year occupation of Western Sahara and gross violations of human rights by the Moroccan Monarchy that document many incidents including the beating deaths and disappearance of human rights advocates.
The United Nations is a failure. It does nothing to intercede when human rights are violated. The invasion of Iraq, the cruel and unusual punishment of prisoners and the denial of due process by the United States are clear indicators of its impotence.
Concerned Migrants Group Worldwide is appealing via email for all the assistance they can get from any pro-immigrant groups and NGOs. They can be contacted directly via email at concerned_migrants [at] yahoo.com or you may contact this writer at t_rose.60sradical [at] yahoo.com . Anyone familiar with yahoo, myspace, facebook or some list service sights that may be helpful, please inform this writer and it will be forwarded to the appropriate persons.