He thought he had done the hardest bit, but Didier, a clandestine immigrant from Cameroon, has been stuck in Tangier, Morocco, for two years, unable to reach his dream destination: Europe.

By Thibaut Cavaillès, Tanger

When the weather allows it, Didier can see, from the Medina of Tangier, the Spanish city of Tarifa, the doorway to a dream that might never come true: getting to Europe. “I am confident that once in Europe, I’ll make it!”, he affirms.

Didier is a Cameroonian citizen. He did not reveal his real age: “I'm twenty-four years excluding taxes, but with taxes I'm twenty-eight”, he bursts out laughing.

He has a fake age and a fake name too. The fake age is for the prospective football clubs he was hoping to join here in Morocco. Revealing his real age would have ruined the chances of this former junior Cameroonian international. As for the fake name, it is intended to avoid trouble with the police. He chose the name Didier in tribute to his favourite football player, Ivorian striker Didier Drogba.

15km to paradise
Sitting on low wall in the old city of Tangier, Didier is facing Tarifa in Spain. From here, he can see the wind turbines and roads on the mountains, beyond the 15km wide Strait of Gibraltar. Fifteen kilometres looks like no distance at all for Didier, who has travelled thousands of kilometres across five countries. “I am frustrated as I can see Spain every day. The sea is the only thing standing between us and paradise”, he says.

Didier has been stuck in Northern Morocco for two years, living in squalid buildings with other clandestine immigrants, helping the bishop of the Spanish church after the service. He also occasionally poses as a guide, taking tourists around the Medina and the Kasbah in Tangier. “At least they treat us like human beings and we manage to earn a few dirhams”.

Didier has kept his hopes alive for two years. He almost made it once, when a Spanish woman fell in love with him and tried to obtain a visa for him. “But once again, I was victim of the racism here against black people. The Moroccan employees at the Spanish consulate didn’t even bother looking at my application”, he says.

Called slave and harassed by children
During the time I spent in Didier’s company, I witness a scene that he claims happens to him on a daily basis. In front of the city’s Spanish cathedral, a Moroccan beggar calls Didier a slave as he passes by. “See? Even crazy women do not respect us”, says Didier. Children also laughed at him and other sub-Saharan immigrants like him. “We don’t pay attention to such things anymore. Anyway, I will get to Europe, where there are human rights”, he adds.

Didier gets his image of Europe from watching television. “I watch TV5 and France 24. There is a lot of money there. People eat 15-Euro sandwiches and drink 10-Euro coffees at the Champ Elysées, in Paris”, he says. An image that is exaggerated and idealised by the sugar coated accounts of his ‘brothers’, who do not reveal the difficulties they have encountered in Europe. “Even the immigration detention centres are better than our homes. At least we get food”, he explains.

Last attempt
Didier remained enthusiastic over Summer - convinced that one day he would cross the Strait. Since then the rain has started falling on Tangier, there are fewer tourists and the prospect of another winter in this Moroccan coastal city has shattered his hopes. To make matters worse, the Spanish and Moroccan governments are now working together closely in the fight against clandestine immigration and more stringent immigration policies are in place in Europe.

Didier has made up his mind: he his trying to make enough money to go back to Cameroon. “There, I will try to start a small business, selling clothes”. Hopefully, in his home country, he may live in dignity.