Morocco must begin its deconfinement Wednesday. An undeniable relief, which does not rhyme with the end of the hassle for the hundreds of French travelers who have been stranded in the country for three months, aboard their motorhome.
Despite the gradual loosening of travel bans taken in response to the Covid-19 epidemic, the next stadium of which, scheduled for Wednesday, has not yet been detailed by the Moroccan authorities, many of these tourists still fail to board on a ferry with their vehicle, in order to return to France.
Since the end of May, the same pattern has been repeated several times a week for Jean and Monique Vanhove, a Frenchman aged 68 and 67, who left in early February with the idea of "discovering, with friends, the eastern part of Morocco". Since mid-March, they have been confined to a campsite in Sidi Bibi, in the south of the country, awaiting a return opportunity. On several occasions, the French consulate in Agadir announced by email that ferries were going to be chartered to go directly to the port of Sète, in France, or else that of Malaga, in Spain, by the GNV and Balearia companies, on 2 , 9, 16 or 23 June… A dozen boats have been planned for the moment. But so many hopes so far showered, for this retired couple from the Vosges.
A "very large" number of travelers
"Other crossings are already planned", assured June 5 in a statement the Quai d'Orsay, which specifies working "in coordination with the Moroccan authorities", adding that "all these repatriation options remain organized by consulates ".
It is the fifth time that the Vanhove spouses register online and then wait, in the hope that the company will call them back, to finally embark on D-Day. "You will be called by GNV in order of registration, within the limit places available, with priority to people already carrying a ticket from the GNV company (whatever the date), ”said the French consulate in Agadir, in an email that we were able to consult.
In a previous message, the consular authorities - who did not respond to the Parisian's questions - had also mentioned the "very large number of people requesting their return since the start of this unprecedented crisis".
It is perhaps because of these multiple travelers, the quantity of which is so far difficult to determine, that this call from the GNV company, Jean Vanhove is still awaiting it and that the boats continue to leave the port without him. However, the sixties could be considered a priority: he spent 6 days in Agadir hospital in late May, due to severe dizziness.
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"We didn't think it would be that long ... When can we go home?" Asks the retiree, who is eager to find his children and grandchildren. He also deplores that "a few boats will not be enough to repatriate all the motorhomes stranded in Morocco" and realizes that "everyone is overwhelmed, there is panic on board". Jean Vanhove, who says he pays “40 euros for the telephone”, each time he tries to join the GNV company, also says he is “angry with the consular institutions”, who, “until now, have royally ignored us ”. He even contacted the Prime Minister's office, who told him that nothing could be released before a common European position was adopted. In the meantime, the date has fallen: the external borders of the European Union and the Schengen area will not reopen before 1 July.
"We want to be racketeered, but we want to be repatriated"
The Vosgien, who currently lives "in very bearable conditions, thanks in particular to the swimming pool", after having been forced not to leave the campsite for the first month, hopes to be able to board a ferry on June 13. He has his ticket, bought almost 650 euros (in addition to the price of the return ticket already spent before the epidemic) at GNV.
But rumors are rife within the motorhome community. Some have heard that the boat could not dock due to a lack of authorization. This is also what the consulate indicates in an email. Asked about its organization, the GNV company did not answer us. "We want to be racketeered but we want to be repatriated," insists Jean Vanhove, who is ready to buy a third return ticket, if he acquires the certainty of finally being able to return to France.
Jean-Marc Sigl also heard these rumors of a blocked boat from his campsite in Marrakech. He also bought a ticket to finally embark with his wife Maryse on June 13. When we contacted the couple at the end of April, there were a hundred French people stranded in the same place. Now, the septuagenarian only counts 24 motorhomes. Some have "quietly packed up, without saying anything to anyone," he gets annoyed. One of his neighbors in the camp, Hubert Bergé, whom we also interviewed, managed to get him back on May 25 with his wife, "after many ups and downs", by taking a boat chartered by the British government.
Jean-Marc and Maryse Sigl are starting to find the time very long. It is the 7th time that they register with the consulate in the hope of finally taking off, and their savings are melting visibly. They paid 1000 euros to buy their ticket for May 13, and almost "cracked" to spend 700 more, to embark on a boat not planned by the consulate, which left Tangier on Monday. But reason has taken over.
A boat scheduled for June 16
“Out of a dozen boats planned, not a quarter have left. They have been postponed or canceled, "believes the retiree, who was finally contacted by the GNV partner on Tuesday afternoon, to embark on May 16, for the port of Sète, after six months in Morocco.
"We are in a slightly more serene state of mind, but we are still in doubt", underlines Jean-Yves Sigl, not unhappy to have been able to spend his confinement in conditions despite everything enviable. “We can go shopping but there is not much open, except the food shops. You can also walk around, but it's very hot, up to 43 degrees. Fortunately we can rest by the pool. I'm not going to say it's the best, but we want to go back, ”explains the motorhome driver, relieved that his older and more vulnerable neighbors have been able to borrow a boat, as temperatures rise. While waiting for his return, he still hopes to understand how he was able to stay blocked for three months at this campsite: "We don't know if it was Morocco that messed up the mess, Spain that said nothing or France that didn't did nothing… "