Six Killed In Morocco Clash

A humanitarian crisis at two Spanish enclaves in northeastern Morocco turned deadly for a second time in a week, with six Africans reportedly killed in clashes with Moroccan forces as hundreds rushed guard posts in their desperation to reach Europe.

Spain, meanwhile, said starting late Thursday, it would turn Africans who have made it into the enclave of Melilla over to Moroccan authorities. A boat carrying 80 Malians was set to leave for Morocco late Thursday, Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said.

For the past week, increasing waves of men from impoverished, sub-Saharan African nations seeking to set foot on European territory have surged guard posts along the borders separating the centuries-old Spanish enclaves from Morocco.

Six men died during a "violent" assault by 400 immigrants trying to enter Melilla overnight, the Moroccan state news agency MAP said.

Abdellah Bendhiba, the governor of Morocco's Nador province, told MAP: the men "displayed exceptional violence, obliging the security services to respond in the framework of legitimate defense."

"Unfortunately, six of the assailants died," he reportedly said.

The report did not specify how they were killed or whether Moroccan security forces opened fire. It said 290 people were arrested.

MAP said the Moroccan guard posts were located in the Gurugu forest — dense pines on a hill that overlooks Melilla. Many would-be immigrants spend months living in forests on the Moroccan side waiting to cross over.

Last Thursday, five people died of gunshot wounds when some 600 Africans tried to climb fences and reach the other enclave, Ceuta, about 300 miles west of Melilla along Morocco's northern coast.

Two bodies were found on the Spanish side, three on the Moroccan side. Spanish Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso said Thursday that Spanish police did not use live ammunition and thus were not be responsible for the deaths on the Spanish side.

Fernandez de la Vega, in Ceuta, said Spain had no official confirmation from Morocco of deaths at the border.

The reported deaths intensified a crisis that has been brewing since the frenzied rushes on Melilla and Ceuta began in August. The volume of men involved magnified dramatically, with six huge rushes over the past week and hundreds of men scaling razor-wire fences to reach the small European outposts.

Spain announced the expulsions Wednesday night as it struggled to cope with an overflowing holding facility housing 1,600 immigrants in Melilla.

On Thursday, Africans housed there expressed horror at the prospect of going back to Morocco. Many recounted long journeys — some taking years — and then more months of hunger, cold and beatings by police after reaching the forests overlooking the Melilla border.

"We thought we were at the end of our journey. It was nothing but happiness," said Jean Calvin, a 22-year-old man from Cameroon who spent three years getting to Morocco, then two more in the bush. "Now, suddenly, everything has changed. Words escape me."

Luis Aghea, 25 and also from Cameroon, said of Spanish authorities: "If they saw where we were living, they would not send us back."

"I'd prefer to die here," he said.

Spain is carrying out the expulsions under a never-enforced 1992 agreement with Morocco that lets it send back immigrants to Morocco even if they are not Moroccan.

Under Spanish law, African immigrants can stay in Spain if they are from countries that do not have automatic repatriation agreements. Most of the recent arrivals are from sub-Saharan countries that lack such accords and refuse to take the immigrants back.