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10/10/2005:

"Morocco flies out dumped migrants"

Morocco's authorities have said they will begin flying hundreds of illegal West African migrants to Senegal.
The flights are due to take off from near the Algerian border where migrants had been left after being expelled from Spanish enclaves in North Africa.

Humanitarian groups have criticised the expulsions and accused Morocco's security forces of being heavy handed.

Spain's foreign minister is visiting Morocco to discuss the crisis as it reviews its deportations policy.

Senegal has still to confirm a flight is expected on Monday.

A government official in the Melilla enclave said no more deportations were planned at the moment.

The aid agency, Medecins Sans Frontieres, said on Friday it had found more than 500 migrants abandoned by Moroccan police in the Sahara desert without food or water, some of whom had been illegally expelled by Spanish police.

The migrants who remain in Melilla say their treatment at the hands of the Moroccan security forces was appalling, the BBC's Chris Morris in Melilla says.

They have appealed to Spain not to deport anyone else back across the border.

Spain and Morocco have taken a tougher line against the migrants in the last few days, after thousands of people tried to storm the high razor wire fences which surround Melilla and Ceuta.

Hundreds of migrants made it across, but at least 11 were killed.
bbc.co.uk