AFBA Condemns Massacre of African Migrants in Morocco

Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City

The African Bar Association (AfBA) has condemned in strong terms the gruesome killing of dozens of African migrants trying to cross from Morocco to Spain, through Melilla, a Spanish island.

The body noted that Melilla and Ceuta are the European Union’s only land borders with Africa and are protected by fences fortified with barbed wire and surveillance cameras.

In a statement issued yesterday in Benin City, AFBA President, Hannibal Uwaifo, through his Director of Strategic Communications, Douglas Ogbankwa, described the way and manner the migrants were killed as gruesome and inhuman.

“The AfBA condemns the grisly and unprovoked killing of dozens of African migrants who were hacked to death by Moroccan Security Officials while trying to make their way to Spain, through the Morocco-Spain land border and we term this action a crime against humanity. 

“AfBA restates that migrants even if they were irregular migrants, are entitled to be protected by international humanitarian law, which Morocco has subscribed to. The Moroccan Authorities acted as a rogue state and against International Law in brutally annihilating the unarmed African migrants.

The African Bar Association (AfBA) also deprecated the silence of the European Union (EU), over this matter, which smacks of selective hypocrisy.

“We calls for the immediate suspension of Morocco from the African Union and all African Multilateral Organisations, including the African Development Bank  (AfDB), the Confederation of African Football (CAF), and other Continental Sports Bodies,” the body declared.

It also called on all Africans to sever any kind of connection or business with Morocco, including avoiding any flight to Morocco, or patronising Moroccan Airlines and Consular Services, to protest the massacre and call out the European Union for their palpable silence on this issue, aimed at covering the bloody killings that took place at their border.

Usifo further disclosed that AfBA shall submit a formal petition against the Prime Minister of Morocco and other state actors, who authorised and participated in these killings to the International Criminal Court (ICC), the United Nations High Commission.