The Moroccan Embassy in Ouagadougou told MAP that tireless efforts are being made by all the services of the Kingdom's representation in close coordination with the competent Burkinabe authorities to search for the two cyclists allegedly missing at the border between Burkina Faso and Niger.

The aim is to determine their whereabouts or ensure from reliable sources if they had left this West African country, it added.

The two cyclists, Abderrahmane Serhani and Driss Fatihi, have not been heard from since they entered Burkina Faso from Côte d'Ivoire and headed across the border to Niger.

One of the two cyclists had posted a video on his Facebook page on March 29, in which he claimed to be heading for Burkina Faso, whose northeastern parts have been caught in a spiral of violence attributed to armed terrorist groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS) organization since 2015.

The Association of Tourist Cyclists of Souss-Massa had launched an appeal on social networks concerning the disappearance of the two cyclists reported missing.

Moroccan cyclists Abderrahmane Serhani, a 65-year-old retired Islamic education teacher, and Driss Fatihi, a 37-year-old shopkeeper, had left Morocco on January 19. They crossed the El Guerguerat passage in the south of the Kingdom with their two bicycles to Mauritania, and from there to other African countries.

Morocco's Embassy in Burkina Faso is in permanent contact with the family members of the cyclists, as it has made available to them and their relatives the following number: +22606418080