Morocco’s embassy in Guinea has intervened in the case of three Moroccan nationals who have been held in the West African country for more than three weeks following a commercial dispute, a Hespress AR source familiar with the matter said.
The source said that the Moroccan Embassy in Conakry became involved after learning that the three men, two truck drivers and an assistant, were being detained in a warehouse owned by a Guinean trader. A complaint has since been filed with Guinean police, the source said.
According to the same source, parallel efforts are under way to settle the underlying commercial dispute between a Moroccan exporter and a Guinean distributor, a step expected to speed up the men’s release and the return of their truck keys.
The case was first made public on Sunday by the National Union of Road Transport Professionals, affiliated with the Democratic Confederation of Labor. The union said the three Moroccans had been “detained” in Guinea-Conakry for more than three weeks because of a trade disagreement.
In identical letters addressed to Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita and Transport and Logistics Minister Abdessamad Kayouh, the union said it “regrets to inform” the two officials of the detention of the Moroccan citizens and called for urgent government intervention to secure their release.
Monir Benazzouz, secretary-general of the road transport union, told Hespress AR at the time that the three men were in good condition. He said the Guinean recipient of the shipment allowed the drivers to unload their cargo of fruits and vegetables before locking them inside the warehouse where the goods were stored and holding them there for more than three weeks.
Benazzouz said the detention stemmed from a failed commercial transaction between the Guinean distributor and the Moroccan trader. He added that the union only received full details from the Moroccan owner of the shipment on Saturday, which explained why authorities and the public were not alerted earlier.
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