Less than two days after the international community commemorated the International Day of the Disappeared, which renews demands to reveal the fate of those who have gone missing in various countries and under mysterious circumstances, Moroccan families and associations concerned with the affairs of the Moroccan community in Libya are calling for the fate of several missing Moroccan citizens in this Maghreb country to be revealed. They are urging the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to address this issue and engage with the Libyan authorities to reunite families who have been living in a state of hope mixed with pain due to their ignorance of their loved ones’ fates.
Zahra Ftash, the sister of a Moroccan woman named Faiza who has been missing in Libya for eight years, said, “My sister traveled to Libya in 2015 to work for a Libyan woman in her home. After a dispute, she moved to work for another woman through the mediation of a Moroccan lady.” She added, “Since 2016, we have lost all contact with her. Our attempts to reach her former employer and the mediator who helped her find the job have failed to locate her or reveal her fate.”
The speaker, who resides in Al-Hajeb province, told Hespress that “the family has lost all forms of communication with Faiza and has been living in anticipation and hope for her safe return to her homeland ever since.” She noted that the family has contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation, and Moroccans Living Abroad twice on the matter but received no response.
Zahra Ftash called on the government department responsible for Moroccans abroad and the various entities concerned with this issue to uncover the fate of her missing sister. This plea was echoed by her father, who hopes “to see his daughter alive before he passes away,” stressing that “since Faiza’s disappearance, the family has lost the joy of holidays and celebrations, which are incomplete without family reunification.”
Commenting on the matter, Mohamed Hassan Al-Wathiq, a Moroccan resident in Libya and the executive director of the Libyan-Moroccan Friendship Association, said, “The issue of missing persons in Libya, especially from the Moroccan community, is an old and recurring one. Since the previous regime, we have seen announcements of missing persons posted on the bulletin board at the Consulate General of the Kingdom of Morocco in Tripoli.”
He added that “after the February 17 Revolution, this issue has become more pressing, especially with the increase in illegal migration and the proliferation of armed militias, making it difficult to search for missing persons. Although the Libyan Ministry of Interior in the Government of National Unity has formed a committee to follow up on these cases, the situation remains challenging.” He confirmed that “the association has received several reports and complaints about missing Moroccans on Libyan soil, whose families demand to know their fate.”
The same activist urged the Moroccan and Libyan authorities to “pay more attention to the issue of missing Moroccans in Libya and intensify efforts to uncover their fate, especially since some individuals are being held in detention centers outside government control.” He also noted that “the consulates of all countries represented in Tripoli follow up on the cases of their citizens detained in rehabilitation and correctional institutions. However, in its current state, the Consulate of the Kingdom of Morocco does not prioritize this issue, and we have not heard of any visits to these institutions and centers,” expressing his hope that this demand will be met “so that the mothers of these detainees and missing persons can find joy once again.”
