Major north African breach sparks blame game

The unprecedented immigration breach by Moroccans at the Spanish enclave of Ceuta has been met with fear and condemnation by the European Union (EU) and US, who have accused both Spain and Morocco of lax border controls, notes Legalbrief. Spain's Prime Minister has blamed trafficking gangs after about 60 000 migrants crossed into the North African enclave from Morocco, reports BBC News. At least 72 people died during the surge, according to local media. Pedro Sánchez called the incident a ‘violation of Spain's territorial integrity’. The influx comes after Spain's Supreme Court ruled that migrants stopped at sea while trying to reach Ceuta or Melilla, another Spanish enclave, cannot be summarily returned to Morocco. As of Friday evening, more than 48 000 people had voluntarily returned to Morocco, Spanish officials said. Ceuta on the North African coast is separated from mainland Spain by the Strait of Gibraltar. It has long been a focal point for migrants attempting to reach Europe. During the summer months there is often a big push to reach Ceuta, typically organised over social media. Coveted by Morocco, Ceuta and another Spanish enclave Melilla have long been a flashpoint in diplomatic relations between the two countries. They form the European Union's only land borders with Africa. Spain has now deployed its armed forces to bolster security in Ceuta and at its sister city of Melilla, where between 300 to 400 crossings were also reported overnight. Sánchez said the surge was caused by criminal networks purposefully misinterpreting the recent Supreme Court ruling. ‘What has emerged from our talks with Moroccan authorities is that trafficking mafias took a self-serving interpretation of a Supreme Court ruling’ which ‘spread like wildfire’, he said. He added that the government would look at reinforcing the border with Morocco, and that Moroccan authorities were co-operating with the return of those who had entered illegally.

Italy's right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni described the images from Ceuta as ‘shocking’, writing on social media that such ‘uncontrolled immigration’ was a security threat to Europe. Later on Friday Italy suspended the Schengen zone agreement with Spain on free movement. The Spanish Foreign Minister said such remarks were ‘improper’ for ‘a partner and friendly country from which we expect European solidarity and not partisan demagoguery’. He also summoned the Italian ambassador to Madrid on Friday. Czech Republic's Andrej Babiš also called for the temporary suspension of Spain's Schengen membership, according to BBC News. Responding on X, Sánchez said: ‘Solidarity and empathy are optional. Respect for European treaties and data is not.’ US President Donald Trump meanwhile called the situation in Ceuta a ‘catastrophe’ and blamed it on ‘weak law, bad management’. EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said the images out of Ceuta were ‘unacceptable’ and must ‘stop immediately’. Finland's Interior Minister Mari Rantanen backed Meloni and said Spain had failed to protect its border, while German Chancellor Friedrich Merz demanded Morocco ‘take back illegal migrants immediately’. 

Morocco's Interior Ministry yesterday issued its first toll for those who died trying to reach Ceuta last week, saying 11 people had died, reports France24. The figures are significantly lower than those issued by Spain, which says at least 72 people died. Rachid El Khalfi, a spokesman for Morocco's Interior Ministry, said that of the 11 who died, 10 had drowned, while an eleventh person fell from a rocky area. Morocco was working with Spain to check the toll figures and to identify bodies found on Spanish territory. The Moroccan Association for Human Rights has said there were ‘nearly 130 victims’ with dozens more missing. Prosecutors have opened an official investigation into what happened, said the Ministry.

Africanews reports that a Moroccan source told AFP that those being returned by Spain were being transported home directly by bus or via the railway station in Tangier, 70km away. The Fnideq border crossing is now 'completely secure', the source added, as are the hills overlooking it, from which hundreds of people, mostly young men, had thrown stones at security forces on Friday. Previous migrant surges have occurred during tensions between Spain and Morocco, including in 2021 which led more than 10 000 migrants to enter Ceuta in just two days. Residents of Ceuta were angered after the unprecedented border crisis, according to a second africanews report. Shops were closed and bread was in short supply as the North African territory struggled on Friday to cope with the influx. Shuttered storefronts lined Calle Real, Ceuta's main commercial artery, where the usual flow of shoppers and residents was replaced by scores of migrants milling around. ‘This cannot be allowed. I’m not against immigration, but I believe it has to be regulated immigration, and this isn’t regulated,’ said resident Lidia. Some Moroccans who crossed into Ceuta said they had hoped to find better work opportunities in Spain, but were returning because of the mayhem in the enclave. Abdulah Buji, a 21-year-old student from Tetouan said he came to Ceuta because there are no job opportunities for young people in Morocco. Mohammed, a taxi driver and Ceuta resident, said he believed that many of the migrants were deciding to return home because they expected better conditions in the enclave. ‘They have come up against reality,’ he said, saying some migrants told him they were returning ‘because they had no food’.

In Spanish possession since 1580, Ceuta is home to a mixed population of Christians and Muslims, while its Spanish and Moroccan residents and day workers live in relative harmony, reports The Guardian. Morocco does not officially recognise Ceuta and Melilla as Spanish territories and often refers to them as occupied lands. Spain is a main point of arrival into Europe for people seeking better economic opportunities or an escape from violence in their home countries. Ceuta and Melilla are heavily fortified as they are seen as destinations for those trying to reach Spain from Morocco and other parts of Africa. Many migrants who reach Ceuta or Melilla are immediately turned back, but others are held in migrant shelters while they apply for asylum in Spain. To reach Ceuta, people often swim from the Moroccan town of Fnideq, covering about 5km. Others attempt the crossing from the nearer town of Belyounech. In 2022, 23 people were killed as about 2 000 people, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, attempted to cross into Melilla from Morocco, while in 2014 at least 14 people died off Ceuta when 200 people tried to enter by climbing the border fence or swimming around the breakwater that separates the city from Moroccan territory. Since at least the mid-1990s, thousands of people cross the Mediterranean each year from north African countries and Turkey in search of asylum in Europe.