In Limbo

We met these guys at Bir Lahlou in the Free Zone of Western Sahara. They had been trying to get to Europe, via Morocco and the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Mellila. While trying to cross into Spanish territory they were arrested by the Moroccans and subsequently dumped in the desert in Western Sahara, on the other side of the wall built by the Moroccans to separate Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara from the Polisario-controlled "Free Zone". They are currently being looked after by the Polisario in the free zone; the Polisario represent the government of the exiled Sahrawi people, who have been living largely off international aid since they were expelled from their homeland by the Moroccan invasion and subsequent occupation in the 1970s. We spoke to the guy in the red scarf, who was from Cameroon. He told us there were around 100 people living off the generosity of the Sahrawi at Bir Lahlou, and that none of them knew what would happen to them next. Perhaps they have friends or relatives who have access to Flickr. While in Tifariti I met one of some 50 people from Bangladesh and India, who had suffered the same fate - these people were lucky enough to have found an organisation to pay for their repatriation.

Update: I've since heard that some of the migrants stuck in the Free Zone have made it home, although I don't know which ones, or how many. There is a constant stream of people choosing this route from sub-Saharan Africa to Europe, so I'm sure this story will be repeated again and again.