By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Four Moroccan truck drivers went missing on Saturday as they crossed the restive border area between Burkina Faso and Niger, according to a source from the Moroccan Embassy in Burkina Faso.
The Moroccan Embassy in Burkina Faso and a Moroccan transport union have alleged that four of their countrymen have gone missing along the Burkina Faso-Niger border.
Of the missing persons, three are believed to be truck drivers, while the fourth was travelling as an assistant.
They disappeared on Saturday after crossing the restive border without an escort, driving from Dori in Burkina Faso to Tera in Niger, an area known for jihadi threats, a Moroccan Embassy source in Burkina Faso said.
Junta-led Burkina Faso and Niger are battling Islamist militant groups linked to al-Qaida and Islamic State, whose activities have destabilised Sahel states in West Africa for over a decade.
The Moroccan diplomatic source said the embassy was working with Burkina Faso authorities to determine the whereabouts of the missing drivers.
According to the source, Burkina Faso has been mobilising security forces to provide escort services for trucks in the border area to protect them from militant attacks operating in the region.
Reuters quoted Echarki El Hachmi, the secretary general of Morocco’s transporters’ union, as saying that the drivers decided to embark on the journey after waiting for a week without receiving an escort.
El Hachmi said the trucks, loaded with infrastructure equipment, departed weeks ago from Casablanca en route to Niger.
He urged for greater protection in high-risk areas as the number of Moroccan trucks crossing the Sahel continues to rise.
This is not the first instance of Moroccan truck drivers being targeted, El Hachmi alleged.
He stated that a convoy of Moroccan trucks was earlier this month attacked on the Malian border with Mauritania, but no casualties were recorded.
