Algeria Returns 40 Moroccan Migrants via Shuttered Land Border

A file photo shows Moroccan security forces stand guard as Moroccan farmers protest in the city of Figuig on March 18, 2021. (Fadel Senna/AFP)
A file photo shows Moroccan security forces stand guard as Moroccan farmers protest in the city of Figuig on March 18, 2021. (Fadel Senna/AFP)
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Algeria Returns 40 Moroccan Migrants via Shuttered Land Border

A file photo shows Moroccan security forces stand guard as Moroccan farmers protest in the city of Figuig on March 18, 2021. (Fadel Senna/AFP)
A file photo shows Moroccan security forces stand guard as Moroccan farmers protest in the city of Figuig on March 18, 2021. (Fadel Senna/AFP)

Algeria on Tuesday repatriated around 40 Moroccan migrants across a long-shuttered land border crossing opened exceptionally for the purpose, a Moroccan NGO said.

“The Algerian authorities handed around 40 migrants to their Moroccan counterparts via the Zouj Beghal land crossing, which was opened specifically,” said Hassan Amari, head of the Association for Helping Migrants in Difficulty.

The Moroccan authorities sent buses to take the migrants home, he said.

Morocco’s King Mohammed VI in July called for the two nations’ land borders to be reopened.

But Algeria in August cut off diplomatic ties with Algeria in protest at what it said were “hostile actions,” charges the kingdom denied, AFP reported.

Morocco’s long northern coast, some parts of which are visible from mainland Spain, has long been used by migrants from Morocco and beyond as a launchpad for bids to reach Europe by sea.

But “some end up in Algeria after their boats get lost, and they are arrested,” Amari said.



UN Seeks $6 Billion to Ease Hunger Catastrophe in Sudan

Displaced Sudanese, who fled the Zamzam camp, gather near the town of Tawila in North Darfur on February 14, 2025. (AFP)
Displaced Sudanese, who fled the Zamzam camp, gather near the town of Tawila in North Darfur on February 14, 2025. (AFP)
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UN Seeks $6 Billion to Ease Hunger Catastrophe in Sudan

Displaced Sudanese, who fled the Zamzam camp, gather near the town of Tawila in North Darfur on February 14, 2025. (AFP)
Displaced Sudanese, who fled the Zamzam camp, gather near the town of Tawila in North Darfur on February 14, 2025. (AFP)

UN officials on Monday asked for $6 billion for Sudan this year from donors to help ease what they called the world's worst ever hunger catastrophe and the mass displacement of people brought on by civil war.

The UN appeal represents a rise of more than 40% from last year's for Sudan at a time when aid budgets around the world are under strain, partly due to a pause in funding announced by US President Donald Trump last month that has affected life-saving programs across the globe.

The UN says the funds are necessary because the impact of the 22-month war between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) - that has already displaced a fifth of its population and stoked severe hunger among around half its population - looks set to worsen.

World Food Program chief Cindy McCain, speaking via video to a room full of diplomats in Geneva, said: "Sudan is now the epicenter of the world's largest and most severe hunger crisis ever."

She did not provide figures, but Sudan's total population currently stands at about 48 million people. Among previous world famines, the Bengal Famine of 1943 claimed between 2 million and 3 million lives, according to several estimates, while millions are believed to have died in the Great Chinese Famine of 1959-61.

Famine conditions have been reported in at least five locations in Sudan, including displacement camps in Darfur, a UN statement said, and this was set to worsen with continued fighting and the collapse of basic services.

"This is a humanitarian crisis that is truly unprecedented in its scale and its gravity and it demands a response unprecedented in scale and intent," UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher said.

One of the famine-stricken camps was attacked by the RSF last week as the group tries to tighten its grip on its Darfur stronghold.

While some aid agencies say they have received waivers from Washington to provide aid in Sudan, uncertainty remains on the extent of coverage for providing famine relief.

The UN plan aims to reach nearly 21 million people within the country, making it the most ambitious humanitarian response so far for 2025, and requires $4.2 billion - the rest being for those displaced by the conflict.