![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://uknews.evprotec.com/morocco-earthquake-authorities-accept-only-limited-international-help/&media=https://uknews.evprotec.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/131056684_1c29440b8df4265eb9791ecd2fa5f41b1190b8210_64_3808_21431000x563.jpg&description=Image source, Reuters Image caption, Small groups of international workers will soon be joining the Moroccan search-and-rescue efforts Almost as soon as news broke of Friday's earthquake in Morocco, offers of help from around the world came in. But the country has so far been selective in what it has chosen to accept. A statement on Sunday from the interior ministry said Morocco had "responded in this particular phase to offers of support from the friendly nations: Spain, Qatar, the UK and the United Arab Emirates". Spain has sent a search-and-rescue unit with sniffer dogs and the UK has deployed a similar team, but there have been questions over why Morocco has been slow to accept other offers. French help is on standby but the head of one rescue charity, Secouristes sans Frontieres, said his aid workers had not been given the go-ahead from the Moroccan government, the AFP news agency reports. Algeria, which cut diplomatic ties with its North African neighbour two years ago, said it could send 80 specialised rescue workers from its civil protection force. There have also been offers from the US, Tunisia, Turkey and Taiwan among others. But the decision over what assistance to welcome has got caught up in questions of sovereignty and geopolitics. There are strained relations between France and Morocco, for instance, partly as a result of moves by French President Emmanuel Macron to get closer to Algeria. But the French authorities have tried to play down any idea that they had been snubbed. "This is a misplaced controversy," Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna is quoted by the Reuters news agency as saying. Morocco says it wants to maintain control and does not want to risk a potentially chaotic situation with dozens of countries and organisations coming in to help. "A lack of co-ordination in such cases would be counterproductive," authorities there have said. But government critic and activist Maati Mounjib has said it is the wrong response when help is desperately){kind=link}
Almost as soon as news broke of Friday’s earthquake in Morocco, offers of help from around the world came in. But the country has so far been selective in what it has chosen to accept.
A statement on Sunday from the interior ministry said Morocco had “responded in this particular phase to offers of support from the friendly nations: Spain, Qatar, the UK and the United Arab Emirates”.
Spain has sent a search-and-rescue unit with sniffer dogs and the UK has deployed a similar team, but there have been questions over why Morocco has been slow to accept other offers.
French help is on standby but the head of one rescue charity, Secouristes sans Frontieres, said his aid workers had not been given the go-ahead from the Moroccan government, the AFP news agency reports.
Algeria, which cut diplomatic ties with its North African neighbour two years ago, said it could send 80 specialised rescue workers from its civil protection force.