Coronavirus: nearly 10,000 French people still stranded in Morocco

Text by: RFI Follow

Morocco extended the state of emergency on Monday until June 10. This means continuing containment, but also maintaining the closure of its borders, a measure taken in mid-March. A heavy blow for the more than 10,000 French and Moroccans resident in France who are still stuck in the country.

Publicity

Holidays, family or professional visits which turn for many into a nightmare, with very little means of repatriation and a feeling of being abandoned by the French State . Nancy Viannet had left for Morocco in early March to attend a funeral. Her stay was to last 10 days, but it's been three months that this Frenchwoman is stuck in Morocco. “  I had a professional life, I had a very short life and I want to find it. There everything is chaotic, it is a puzzle, I am desperate, I am desperate, "she says  loose.

► Read also: Coronavirus: 130,000 French people stranded abroad want to return

Unlike many others, she is fortunate to be accommodated and not to have to worry too much about her job. But it is psychologically difficult, especially since France, according to the deputy for French nationals abroad, Anne Genetet, has very little room for maneuver.

"  It is the decision of a state - it is sovereign  - to close its borders, " she explains. It's not just Morocco. So then, it happens in negotiation on a case by case basis. In Australia, we were able to succeed, in New Zealand, we ended up in China not yet, in Singapore either. In Morocco, little by little with France and diplomatic support, we are succeeding in obtaining the establishment of special flights. Morocco does not wish to add more, what do you want us to do ? It is the bad luck that it fell on them, this closing of borders, but it also allowed Morocco to contain the epidemic, since the number of cases remains very low in Morocco . ”

Each week, only six planes provide repatriation to France with 120 seats available on board. Nancy has done her math: she may only be back in 14 weeks.

► Read also: Coronavirus: the state of health emergency enters into force in Morocco

Our selection on the coronavirus

• Listen to our Coronavirus Info column 

• Our  explanations  :
→  What we know about the mode of contagion
→  Disparities and inequalities in the face of the coronavirus: what must be remembered
→  Triple therapy, Discovery… update on research
→  The race for the vaccine is in full swing
→  How to make a mask and use it well

• Our series  : "  The response, country by country  "

• After Covid-19, towards a new world?

• Each evening, find the State of the world and Africa facing the pandemic

• See also the files of RFI Savoirs on the Covid-19:
→  Birth of a pandemic
→  Everyday life put to the test
→  The history of epidemics
→  Science facing the Covid-19
→  The geopolitical consequences

Newsletter Receive all international news directly in your mailbox

Follow all international news by downloading the RFI application

• France
• Morocco
• Confinement
• Coronavirus
• Transport

On the same subject

Series

In the Maghreb, early measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus

Covid-19 in Morocco: masks, drugs and social safety net

In Morocco, in the midst of a pandemic, solidarity towards the most deprived is organized