In Ceuta, a resident helps search for minor migrants
Audio 01:09
Many minors are among the migrants who have crossed the border to arrive in Ceuta.
© JON NAZCA / REUTERS
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
Since the beginning of the week, the authorities in Ceuta estimate that between 8 and 10,000 people have entered the Spanish enclave from Morocco, amid a diplomatic crisis between the two countries.
Among these migrants, there are very many minors.
Residents are mobilizing to give news of the latter to their families.
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With our special correspondent in Ceuta,
Magali Lagrange
Two young Moroccans are sitting facing the sea in the middle of the afternoon.
Neither of them speak French, English or Spanish.
But one of them manages to make himself understood.
He wants to use a phone, so he can send a message to his mother through WhatsApp.
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A request that was also met by Abdeslam Mohamed, the president of Alas Protectoras, an NGO helping children, which also carries out actions on the other side of the border, in Morocco.
He is currently using social media so that families can get together.
“
I use my Facebook page to find children who are lost, or whose families have not heard from, because they don't have a phone to call.
They are young minors.
"
Moroccan families send him pictures of young people that he posts on his wall, hoping that people from Ceuta who follow him will be able to recognize them.
“
For example, this young girl you see here, she wants to go back to Morocco.
But the state can't send her like that, she's a minor.
There must be a parent for that.
There is also this boy that I am looking for, but I have not found him yet.
He is from Oued Laou.
This one comes from Castillejos and we are looking for him too
”.
Abdeslam Mohamed continues to scroll through the photos on his phone screen.
He says his publications have enabled some 50 families to trace their children so far.
►Also listen: International guest - Migration crisis in Ceuta: "It's a message sent to the European Union"
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