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Morocco

Swimming to Better Fortunes
Attempting to enter Europe Illegally by boat, Fathi Tahib was first robbed, then forced to make a desperate swim to the Spanish Coast before he was rescued by two adolescents Just as he was on the verge of death.
The youngsters took him to a farm In Algeciras, on the Southerntip of Spain, where he spent a little over a month before he was arrested by Spanish authorities and deported back to Morocco.
Tahib is one of many who annually attempt to emigrate Into Europe by Illegal and dangerous means — usually by boat — across the Straits of Gibraltar. According to the Provincial Government of Cadiz, 1,688 Illegal Immigrants were arrested on Spain s southernmost coast In 1991. It expects that number to triple in 1992.
They say many drown in the Straits,'' Tahib declared. But the letters and photos my uncle In Italy has sent me arc-enough to convince me that I have to try again."
Twenty-one-year-old Tahib. from the Moroccan town of
Beni enzar, failed to obtain a visa for Italy last year and de elded to attempt to enter Europe Illegally through Spain. He worked In Tangier* as a construction labourer, a tourist guide and a kitchen helper. By last December he had managed to save almost US* 2.000 and was ready to make his move.
Tahib had to pay USS 700 up front to those In charge of the clandestine voyage across the Straits of Gibraltar. He was then put on a waiting list of over 2,000 persons.
The wait cost Tahib dearly. "On New Year's Eve. the Tangier® police rounded-up a lot of people on the streets while I and some others were looking at a notice for a boat." he recalled. "1 was arrested. Two policemen pushed me into the back of a car and drove me to some woods, where they beat me and robbed me of everything I
had.'
He added: "They confiscated all my papers, but since I had already paid for the boat I decided to stick to my plan of somehow getting to the other side of the Straits."
His chance came on January 5 and early in the morning he boarded a boat with 39 other men and two women. "They told us they would leave us some place along the Spanish coast." said Tahib. "1 didn't have any more money, but was disposed to do whatever was necessary to get to Milan, where one of my uncle* could help me get a Jot in construc-
tion."
They were already about to reach the Spanish Coast when a powerful floodlight was suddenly turned on them. They were intercepted by a Spanish Coast Guard cutter. Tahib recounted the "panic was total, we all jumped overboard into the water."
A strong swimmer, Tahib claims he swam some 80 metres underwater to rocks along the coast near the Spanish city of Tarifa. But the worst was still to come.
Tahib walked for days through the mountains, terrorised at the possibility of
being surprised by the police. He suffered mainly from hunger. he said, "which gnawed at my vitals. But afterwards this disappeared, and I kept on walking without having any idea where I was going. I slept off and on because I was very weak.'
On January 15. he encoun-tered two adolescent Spaniards. Francisco and Carlo* Suarez, some three km from the city of Algeciras.
The two took him to their father's farm outside Algeciras.. They fed him. nursed hl* Injuries and gave him clothes. Once he was well, Tahib was offered a job on the farm.
On February 17, two civil Sard agents turned up at the m and arrested him for illegal residence and not having any documents. Tahib was taken to the detention centre In Tarifa where he Joined 78
other illegal immigrant*. They were crammed into a room measuring 20 square metre* and designed for 20 persons.
Human rights organisations have denounced the practise of detaining immigrants tn Tarifa where prisoners do not get any legal assistance, nor an Interpreter, nor the minimum sanitary conditions.
Tahib was treated by Dr Alberto Gutierrez. who works for the Workers Commissions Union. Gutierrez said Tahib was "on the point of dying when he was found."
"Some people might think It was very reckless of me to go to a place 1 didn't know, with neither money nor papers. But this not being brave. It's Just something you do when you have nothing to lose." Tahib said.
Having been repatriated to Tangier*, he now cleans washrooms at an Itaufic restaurant. He is determined to save enough money to try again.
Tahib said: "Between dying here little by little and dying on the other side of the Straits, I prefer the latter option.'