The border crossing of the occupied city of Melilla in Beni Ansar, Nador Province, is experiencing unprecedented overcrowding during these last days of August, coinciding with the return of the community residing abroad, who spent their summer vacation in the homeland, to their countries of residence.
The severe congestion at the border crossing has resulted in long queues of vehicles, forcing members of the community, as well as residents of the occupied city of Melilla, to wait for hours, up to more than ten hours at most, before reaching the enclave under Spanish sovereignty.
Hespress witnessed the state of overcrowding at the border crossing, and witnessed the complaints of a large number of those affected, who demanded the intervention of the responsible authorities to find an urgent solution to this problem, which recurs every summer vacation with the return of the community to the homeland and its departure from it.
While waiting in long queues, those affected resorted to protesting by creating a state of noise by honking their car horns, while others were forced to get out of their cars to complain.
Despite the efforts made by the local authorities, police and auxiliary forces to organize smooth traffic at the Beni Ansar border crossing, the strict measures in place during the return of a large number of the community at the same time, in addition to delegations of residents of the city of Melilla to spend the weekend in Nador and elsewhere… are major factors in creating a state of congestion at the crossing.
In a statement to Hespress, Abdel Hamid Akid, Vice President of the Beni Ansar community, said that the severe overcrowding experienced by the Beni Ansar border crossing this year “is primarily due to the return of a large number of community members to their homeland during the month of August, unlike previous years.”
The spokesman pointed out that “the Moroccan authorities suggested to the officials of the occupied Melilla government to open the border crossing at Farkhana exceptionally during the summer period to relieve pressure on the Beni Ansar crossing, or at least allocate the Farkhana crossing to the residents of the city of Melilla, but the proposal was rejected, so the situation remains as it is.”
The same official confirmed that the Moroccan local authorities are making great efforts to facilitate procedures and organize the traffic process by allocating four lanes for members of the community returning to European countries, and limiting them to one lane for residents of the city of Melilla. However, “the state of overcrowding continues due to the large number of vehicles, especially during the weekend: Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.”
At the end of his statement, the Vice President of the Beni Ansar community called for “finding urgent and more serious solutions to put an end to this problem that is constantly recurring, and facilitating the passage procedures for members of the community and residents of Melilla and all arrivals to encourage them to visit the homeland, instead of placing obstacles and impediments in front of them, and thus depriving the region of opportunities to achieve tourism and economic prosperity.”
