Rabat – The US administration has called for a Spanish-Moroccan collaboration to tackle the migratory crisis in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in northern Morocco.
In the past few days, thousands of irregular migrants traveled from cities in the north to the Spanish enclave.
Reports estimate the number to be over 8,000 people, many of whom faced deportation.
The list of migrants includes children, minors, and women.
In a State Department press briefing on Wednesday, the Principal Deputy Spokesperson spoke about the situation in Ceuta, calling for joint cooperation between Morocco and Spain to tackle the situation.
“I’ll just say, broadly speaking, that the United States continues to promote humane, orderly, and fair forms of migration through bilateral and multilateral diplomacies as well as targeted capacity-building programs,” the spokesperson said.
She added that the US supports both Spain and Morocco to work towards a resolution together.
“And on this, we support both Spain and Morocco to work towards a resolution together.”
Morocco’s government has not yet officially spoken about the situation in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. Some officials spoke about the situation briefly without providing details or projections.
Before moving to Morocco for consultations, the Moroccan Ambassador to Spain, Karima Benyaich, hinted that the situation is due to Spain’s decision to welcome the separatist leader of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali.
Ghali entered Spain secretly under a fake identity and passport for hospitalization after both Algiers and Madrid arranged his trip for “humanitarian reasons.”
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Spain initially sought to maintain Ghali’s hospitalization “secret,” but Moroccan intelligence detected the presence of the Polisario chief in the European country. This led Spain to publicly acknowledge Ghali’s presence. But Madrid then claimed that welcoming the Polisario leader was a “humanitarian gesture” that should not undermine relations with Morocco.
The situation worsened an already tense relationship between Madrid and Rabat, impacting the two neighbors’ security cooperation.
After thousands of migrants arrived in Ceuta this week, the Spanish government and media blamed Morocco for deliberately relaxing border control to “blackmail” Spain with unprecedented waves of migrants..
The Spanish ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Morocco’s ambassador in Madrid for clarifications. But the Moroccan diplomat maintained that Spain’s attitude towards Morocco is “not acceptable.”
She also suggested that Madrid has repeatedly provoked Rabat in recent months and should therefore bear the consequences.
For Benyaich, some acts come with particular, heavy consequences in relations between countries and “they have to be assumed.”
“Relations have to be based on mutual trust,” she told Europa Press, adding that some attitudes “cannot be accepted.”
In response, Spain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha Gonzalez Laya, said that her country will not enter into “an exercise to feed escalation of tensions” with Morocco. Spain will defend its territorial integrity and its borders, she stressed.
