Spain “urgently” summoned Morocco’s ambassador, Karima Benyaich, in Madrid on Tuesday over the massive entry of thousands of Moroccans, including minors, into the Spanish North African enclave of Ceuta, according to media reports.
Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya lodged summoned today Morocco’s ambassador in Madrid to lodge its rejection of the massive entry of Moroccan migrants in the Spanish city of Ceuta
“I reminded her that border control has been, and must remain, a shared responsibility of Spain and Morocco,” said the Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya.
In a response to the Spanish news agency EFE, regarding any relation between Spain the hospitalization of Western Sahara President, Brahim Ghali in spain and the migrant influx to the Spanish city of Ceuta, Spain Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya said that “she contacted the Moroccan authorities in this regard.”
And she emphasized, “She does not imagine that the lives of young people and minors could be endangered, in response to a humanitarian action,” – referring to President Ibrahim Ghali’s treatment in a Spanish hospital.
Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs had confirmed earlier that Spain “will protect its borders, promising to send back all who entered illegally following the readmission deal previously established with neighbors.”
Spanish newspaper “El Mundo” said that the Moroccan ambassador was summoned by the Spanish foreign minister, “This morning, Tuesday, for a special meeting on the massive influx of migrants to Ceuta.”
The same newspaper indicated that Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will visit the cities of Ceuta and Melilla.
The newspaper quoted a statement by Pedro Sanchez, in which he asserted that “the Spanish government will defend the territorial integrity of Spain, and its borders, which are also the borders of the European Union, with the cooperation of its European partners.”
The Spanish government avoided linking its hosting of President Ibrahim Ghali for treatment with the massive influx of Moroccan migrants, including minors that entered to Ceuta.
Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said as many as 6,000 migrants, including about 1,500 minors, swam into Ceuta on Monday and Tuesday. He said about 1500 had already been sent back to Morocco. 86 migrants illegally entered the Spanish city of Melilla from Morocco, he added.
The European Commissioner for Internal Affairs Eva Johansson considered that the influx of about 6000 illegal migrants to Ceuta is “worrying”.
The European official called on Morocco to continue to “blocking Ceuta migrants crossings from its lands”, stressing that the Spanish borders “are the borders of Europe, and that those that do not have the right to stay are orderly and effectively returned.”
Media reports considered this influx on the city of Ceuta as “unprecedented” in the history of illegal migration, as thousands of Moroccans of all ages, and even entire families, poured into Spain.
Several sources and activists predicted that the number of immigrants would increase in the coming hours, as thousands of Moroccans headed to the Ceuta region to enter it, “especially in the absence of a Moroccan guard.”
This wave of immigration sparked widespread controversy on social media, which linked it to diplomatic tensions between Morocco and Spain.
Observers included the sudden influx of about 6000 Moroccans towards the city of Ceuta in the category of extorting the Kingdom of Morocco to Spain through the crisis of illegal immigration, following the hospitalization of the Sahrawi President Ibrahim Ghali in Spain.
Morocco uses “hostile politics” against all countries that adhere to the application of international legitimacy in Western Sahara, and refuse to acknowledge its alleged sovereignty over the Sahrawi lands listed as a non-decolonized territory.
