HRW condemns Algeria and Morocco for stranding Syrian refugees

Morocco had blocked groups of Syrian refugees from leaving the border area near the Moroccan city of Figuig, whilst quarrelling with Algeria about which country is responsible for taking them in since 18 April 2017.

“While Algerian and Moroccan authorities squabble over which country should take the Syrians, men, women, and children are trapped in a desert-like area near the border between them, sleeping in the open and unable to apply for asylum,” Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa executive director at Human Rights Watch said.

The refugees have been left in what was described as “abysmal” conditions.

Towards the end of April, The New Arab had reported that among the trapped refugees was a pregnant woman who had given birth to her daughter in a climate above 40 degrees Celsius.

Read more: Syrian refugee infant is born stranded in the Sahara

Upon arriving, the Syrian refugees had knocked on the townspeople's doors, asking for assistance and shelter. "We don't need food and drink, we need to live in dignity, our country has been destroyed by the war Bashar al-Assad started," one of the women was heard saying, according to Omar Figuigi, a local of the oasis town near the Atlas mountains.

The arrival of the Syrian refugees had caused a diplomatic crisis between Morocco and Algeria, as each country tries to shift the responsibility of hosting them on the other.