The butchery of African Immigrants in Morocco: AFBA condemns act.

The African Bar Association (AfBA) has condemned in the strongest possible terms the gruesome killings of dozens of African migrants attempting to reach Spain from Morocco via the Spanish island of Melilla.

The panel noted that Melilla and Ceuta are the European Union's only land borders with Africa and are safeguarded by fences enhanced 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 the migrants were killed as inhumane.

“AfBA condemns the gruesome and unprovoked killing of dozens of African migrants who were hacked to death by Moroccan security officials as they attempted to cross the land border between Morocco and Spain into Spain, and we call this action a crime against humanity.

“AfBA reiterates that migrants, even if they were irregular migrants, are entitled to protection under international humanitarian law, to which Morocco has subscribed. The Moroccan authorities acted as a rogue state and against international law when they brutally exterminated the unarmed African migrants.

The African Bar Association (AfBA) also decried the European Union's (EU) silence on the matter, which smacks of selective hypocrisy. "We call for the immediate expulsion of Morocco from the African Union and all African multilateral organizations, including the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and other continental sports federations," the panel said.

It also called on all Africans to sever any kind of connection or business with Morocco, including avoiding flights to Morocco, or patronizing Maroccan Airlines and consular services, to protest the massacre and call out the European Union for its apparent silence on the issue, with the aim of covering the bloody murders on their border.

Usifo further announced that the AfBA will file a formal petition with the International Criminal Court (ICC), the United Nations High Commission, against the Moroccan Prime Minister and other state actors who authorized and participated in these killings.

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