Migrants enter Spanish enclave of Ceuta as Morocco loosens borders

A record number of migrants have entered Spain after Morocco scaled back the policing of its border following a diplomatic rift between the two countries.

About 5,000 people, including approximately 1,500 children, entered Spain’s north African enclave of Ceuta on Monday, according to Madrid — more migrants to have arrived in Spanish territory than on any single day this century.

Many swam or used makeshift boats to get into the 18.5 square kilometre coastal enclave, which borders Morocco and is guarded by a six-metre fence. At least one person drowned trying to get into the territory.

Spain has mobilised army troops in Ceuta to help the police and civil guard patrol the border, and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez cancelled a trip to Paris to deal with the crisis.

“My priority at this time is to return normality to Ceuta,” he said in a tweet on Tuesday. He said the government would be “as decisive as possible” to ensure the Spanish enclave’s security and “defend its integrity as part of the country in the face of any challenge”.

Morocco’s apparent use of migrants to exert pressure on Spain follows years of deploying a similar policy on a smaller scale, when it alternately loosened and tightened controls on migration in a bid to influence policy in Madrid and the EU.

Rabat has not commented about its alleged use of migrants to target Spain.

The north African country is deeply unhappy with Spain’s decision to provide medical treatment to Brahim Ghali, head of the Polisario Front, a group that has fought for the independence of the Western Sahara region for years. Ghali is being treated for Covid-19.

Nasser Bourita, Morocco’s foreign minister, said earlier this month that Spain risked undermining relations, adding that Morocco refused to be “the policeman” of the EU on migration.

“Migration needs a comprehensive approach, not only a financial one: we must be partners in the vision, in the formulation of strategies, and not only in their implementation in exchange for a sum of money,” he told Efe, the Spanish news agency.

Morocco claims sovereignty over Western Sahara, a former Spanish colonial territory that is roughly the size of the UK. A 30-year ceasefire with Polisario broke down at the end of 2020.

After the Trump administration recognised Moroccan sovereignty over the desert region in December — in return for the north African country’s recognition of Israel — Rabat has looked for EU countries to follow suit. Spain does not recognise the republic set up by Polisario or Morocco’s claims over Western Sahara.

Referring to Ghali’s hospitalisation in Spain, Arancha González, Spain’s foreign minister, said on a radio interview on Monday night: “This is simply a humanitarian response to a request for humanitarian aid for someone with very fragile health.”

“I can’t imagine that anyone would voluntarily put the lives of young people and minors at risk in the sea, as we have seen in last few hours in Ceuta . . . in response to a humanitarian action.”

She added that Spain would return to their place of origin “all those who have arrived in the country in an irregular way in accordance with current protocols”.

The number of people that arrived on Monday is unprecedented for Spain and Ceuta, an enclave of 85,000 people. At the high point of a previous wave of migration, about 2,200 people arrived in the Canary Islands on a weekend last November.

The Red Cross in Ceuta told Spain’s national broadcaster that it was “absolutely overwhelmed”, as videos indicated Moroccan authorities were doing little to prevent people from swimming out of the country and into the Spanish territory.

Pablo Casado, leader of Spain’s opposition People’s party, called on the government “to immediately guarantee the integrity of our borders and co-ordinate with Morocco the return of the immigrants to their country”.