Berlin, Rabat agree to repatriate Moroccan migrants

Morocco and Germany are poised to sign agreements to ‘fight harder’ against terrorism. The agreements will also entail repatriation of Moroccan nationals who arrived in Germany in 2015 pretending to be Syrian refugees.

“We have agreed to sign new agreements on global security that encompasses all forms of the fight against crime, especially against the phenomenon of terrorism,” said the Interior Minister of Morocco, Mohammed Assad.

Mohammed Assad also assured full cooperation between the two countries to prevent more ill-motivated persons from entering Germany disguised as refugees.

“We have reached a political agreement on security matters. We have negotiated for several years and we will now finalize. It covers various areas of cooperation in the fight against international terrorism, the fight against goods smuggling, drug trafficking , organized crime and the fight against illegal migration. There are still some technical details to be exchanged before signing. “

Conditional Agreements

These agreements follow pressure piled on Morocco by the Germans, especially since Rabat seeks financial aid from Berlin. The German government threatened Morocco and Algeria that it would suspend financial aids to the two countries if the two states refused to cooperate on the issue of repatriating their nationals who have been denied the status of “political refugees.”

This hardening of tone from the German authorities comes after the violence experienced in Cologne on Christmas Eve where several hundreds of people, mostly refugees, allegedly assaulted women. A police investigation revealed that 40% of perpetrators were from Morocco.