Casablanca – As the Melilla-Morocco fence turned into a source of contention, resulting in the death of at least 23 Sub-Saharan migrants, Eduardo de Castro, the Melilla city’s president, has requested greater personnel and material resources “to protect the border” between Morocco and Spain.
The current situation of the two countries’ borders is “not very encouraging in the sense that these migrants are desperate,” de Castro said.
A similar assertion was also heard in the ranks of the Melilla branch of Spain’s People’s Party (PP) and security forces unions hours after news emerged of violent, deadly clashes between border guards and a group of migrants attempting to cross to Spain from Morocco.
“It would be important to highlight that this has not happened in Melilla, but on the other side of the border, Morocco, without prejudice to the need to strengthen our side and greater collaboration,” said Sofia Acedo, PP senator for Melilla. “It is necessary to have our border guarded at all times.”
Read also: Moroccan MPs: Melilla Tragedy Was a ‘Migration Mafias’ Operation
Migrants’ attempt on June 24 to cross the fence between Morocco and Melilla resulted in at least 23 deaths, according to official estimates.
“The fence can be raised higher, but they [irregular migrants] will always look for an alternative,” said de Castro in an interview with EL PAIS, a Spanish news platform.
“Those massive, violent jumps, in some cases, cannot be the option to solve the desperation of migrants; this is not an admissible situation in a rule of law,” he underlined.
While some critics have suggested the Melilla tragedy was the result of insufficient protecting resources, others have said it was the price that the two neighboring countries, Morocco and Spain, paid as a result of their increasing diplomatic cooperation.
“The relations of the Civil Guard with the [Moroccan] Gendarmerie are close and it is good that they recover,” said de Castro. “A different question is what happens later, and in Moroccan territory. In the end, the result has not been so good.”
