Unknown Victims

German Initiative

To protect the borders of the European Union more effectively against unwanted migration, the German Interior Minister demands the establishment of a "European border-police", which he discussed jointly with his Italian colleague Enzo Bianco (left democrat) already five years ago. Especially smaller EU-states have opposed this plan that withdraws central sovereign mandates from national control, and transfers them to a European authority that is mainly dominated by the larger European countries. Despite this resistance, Berlin was successful in caring for supranational border zonations in Brussels [1], last time by the establishment of a so-called border agency [2]. This "was also a German initiative", as Schily confirms.[3]

"Redemption"

As the retiring Berlin Minster moreover told, the states of origin of these African refugees have to expect sanctions in future, if they refuse to "tack back" these unwanted immigrants. Such a refusal will have "effects on the economic and political cooperation", as Schily declares in the face of the Moroccan refugee tragedy[4]. These statements have to be understood as threats and already show the desired consequences. Several African states agreed meanwhile to host the migrants who are stuck in Morocco, and to pay for their deportation. [5] Already last weekend the German press warned that the Berlin foreign policy would have to "take care" of the African "release states" [6], if the flow of refugees to Europe cannot be stopped in another way.

Sentenced to Death

In order to yield to the pressure of European core states, the Moroccan authorities continued the deportation of refugees, who have been consigned to their fates in the desert areas. Human right organizations report about more than 2000 migrants, who shall be deported to frontier areas near Mauritania. "Once abandoned there, the refugees are sentenced to death", one speaker declares, referring to the desolate situation of the deported people: "With bound hands, they have not received any water or food yet during the last two days."[7] More than 1.000 migrants are missed meanwhile and survivors report about numerous casualties. While it can no more be denied, that the European border policy caused the deaths of about 12.000 to 14.000 people, estimating just the ones trying to crossing the Straits of Gibraltar since 1991[8], unscrupulous EU politicians take this fact as a reason to demand the adherence to human-rights standards now from Morocco.[9]

Support Measures

Although it is well-known, that the Moroccan military and police forces expose unwanted migrants at the border to Algeria [10], they have received ample governmental support for training and material from Germany. In 1999 the federal border police school in Lbeck provided several "capacity building" measures for the Moroccan repression agencies. As it is stated in the Berlin Ministry of Defence, German military consultants have been active in Morocco "already for long" and instruct the armed forces there, who now do their job around Ceuta and Melilla[11]. Many Moroccan officers studied at the Military Universities in Hamburg and Munich. Simultaneously the governmentally approved armament exports to Morocco increased significantly during the last five years. While the export of armaments had a volume of about 2,8 millions Euro in the year 2000 still, they increased in 2002 to an amount of 4,5 million Euro and reached about 7 million Euro in 2003. The bulk of the supply was composed of trucks and other all-terrain vehicles.

Instruction

The civil-military armament of the Moroccan authorities complements Berlin and EU by a so-called association agreement, which foresees a "continuous dialogue about questions of illegal migration"[12]. The agreement has come into force on March 2000. 2004 the branch of the social democratic Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation in Rabat conducted several meetings on the topic of migration, which was devoted to the expulsion of refugees. The meeting that will start on Wednesday among the Ministers of Internal Affairs and the Ministers of Justice of the European Union will again be devoted to a cooperation with Morocco. Already during the week before the European Commission approved 40 Million Euro to the government of the country [13]. These resources shall be used for investments into fortifications of their borders and complex storage facilities. In fact the beneficiaries will be those European high-tech enterprises, who prepare the erection of technical barriers and already earned billions in Eastern Europe with similar activities before [14]. However nothing has been published up to now about any kind of humanitarian aid given by the governments of Berlin or the EU for the support of the deported refugees who are now threatened by death. An official number of human victims, who were sacrificed during their rush on the European island of wealth, has neither been published by Berlin nor by Brussels.

[1] Helmut Dietrich: Das Mittelmeer als neuer Raum der Abschreckung; www.ffm-berlin.de/mittelmeer.html#_ftn11
[2] s. dazu Berlin kontrolliert EU-Grenzen
[3], [4] Schily fr Aufteilung der Kanzlerschaft; Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung 09.10.2005
[5] Marokko holt Flüchtlinge aus der Wüste zurck; Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 10.10.2005
[6] Stacheldraht; Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 07.10.2005
[7] Tote vor EU-Enklaven; taz 10.10.2005
[8] Helmut Dietrich: Das Mittelmeer als neuer Raum der Abschreckung; www.ffm-berlin.de/mittelmeer.html#_ftn11
[9] Flüchtlinge in marokkanischer Wüste vom Tod bedroht; Deutsche Welle 10.10.2005
[10] Profiteure der Armutsmigration; taz 10.10.2005
[11] NATO-Mittelmeerdialog; Pressemitteilung des Bundesministeriums der Verteidigung 31.10.2003. S. auch "Not only to the East"
[12] s. dazu Durch die Wüste
[13] Spanien und Marokko einig in Flüchtlingsfrage; Handelsblatt 06.10.2005
[14] s. dazu Industrielle Gesamtrationalisierung und Übernahme

see also Undesirable, Durch die Wüste and Detention Camp Specialists