Hunger, lice, filth: Moroccan migrant camp shows challenges

CASABLANCA, Morocco (AP) — As Morocco prepares to host the signing of a landmark global migration agreement, hundreds of migrants are languishing in a Casablanca camp rife with hunger, misery and unsanitary conditions.

These sub-Saharan Africans who dream of going to Europe are a symbol of the problems world dignitaries are trying to address with the U.N.'s first migration compact being finalized at a conference in Marrakech on Monday and Tuesday.

Rising numbers of migrants live in the makeshift camp on a soccer field near a busy Casablanca bus station. Scant food, lack of heat, no sanitation, lice and respiratory infections are the main worries at the Oulad Ziane camp.

Morocco is a major source of Europe's migrants but is also a transit country and magnet for other Africans fleeing poverty.