RIYADH, 2 February 2006 — Many Moroccan women of all ages and types are gathered at the entrance to the Saudi Embassy in Morocco. All these women are there for only one reason — to find the Saudi men who abandoned them and their children and left the country.
Locked within the women, there are many tragic stories of men who asked their Moroccan wives, the mothers of their children, not to call them again. Some left without warning, leaving neither addresses nor phone numbers, according to Al-Watan daily.
A 21-year-old girl whose mother is Moroccan told her story. She is Saudi, with a Saudi passport in her hand. The way she looks and speaks is Moroccan. She has never been to Saudi Arabia and knows nothing of her relatives in the country.
“The last time I saw my father was 13 years ago. I do not know why he left us or why he divorced my mother. I have a sister and she is an 18-year-old high school student. The last thing I remember about my father is that I called him a few years ago to tell him that I miss him. He threatened me and told me not to call him again. I do not know why he feels this way and why he does not wish to hear from me. I am his daughter. He has never spent money on us and whatever we had came from our mother,” said the girl.
She got her Saudi passport last year; current Moroccan law is that a Moroccan woman whose father is not Moroccan can have two nationalities. The girl said she was confused and did not know whether she wanted to live in Saudi Arabia or Morocco. She knows Saudi Arabia only from pictures and she said that she receives financial help from the Saudi Embassy in Morocco.
Umm Turki is a Moroccan woman who has a tragic story. She said that she was married for 21 years to a Saudi and she spent 15 years in the Kingdom. She has three children; the eldest, a boy, is 20 years old. She said that the only thing that keeps her in good financial shape is the money she receives from the Saudi Embassy in Morocco.
King Abdullah has ordered that money be paid to the abandoned children of Saudi men. Umm Turki’s husband abandoned her after he went bankrupt and could not support himself. He found it cheaper to divorce her than to try to support her and their children.
Another Moroccan woman at the embassy said that she was married three years ago to a Saudi. He told her that he was going home and would be back soon. For three years, he has not come back nor has she heard from him. She does not know if she is still married to him or if he is still alive. She visits the embassy every day hoping to find solutions to her problems.
Muhammad Al-Bishr, Saudi ambassador to Morocco, said the problem is compounded by the fact that many Saudis marry Moroccan women without their family’s knowledge.
He blamed the misery of these women on irresponsible Saudis. “We give the children Saudi nationality if the woman can prove that she was married to a Saudi. The main problem we face is dealing with Saudis who do not cooperate with us. We at the embassy feel great pain toward our sons and daughters who have been abandoned like this. I try every day to call their fathers to solve their problems,” said Al-Bishr.
