MOROCCO: Morocco defied criticism from the United Nations and flew 139 illegal migrants back to Mali yesterday.
"More Malian migrant groups will be flown out on four similar flights from Oujda to bring the total number of Malians to be deported to 606," said a government official who declined to be named.
Oujda is located 540km east of Rabat and is an entry point for illegal migrants travelling from Algeria.
Hundreds of African migrants have in recent weeks stormed the Spanish North African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, prompting Madrid and Rabat to deploy more troops to the frontier. Spain has deported 70 illegal migrants back to Morocco, a move denounced by human rights groups.
"Collective deportations in these conditions endanger the right to life," Jorge Bustamante, a UN special investigator on human rights, said in a statement issued in Geneva.
He called on the governments of Spain and Morocco to co-operate in a "prompt, transparent and independent investigation" into the deaths of at least 11 migrants from bullet wounds near the Spanish enclaves, possibly at the hands of security forces.
Moroccan officials said that Rabat expected to reach a new agreement with Spain to bolster its struggle against illegal immigration.