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Spain deployed troops, military trucks and helicopters in its
North African enclave of Ceuta on Tuesday after thousands of
people crossed over from Morocco, one of the largest movements
of migrants reported in the area in recent years.
More than 8,000 migrants, including nearly 2,000 minors, arrived
on the beaches of Ceuta on Monday and Tuesday, mostly swimming
or aboard inflatable boats, according to the Spanish
authorities, who said that Spain had already sent back 4,000
people.
The sudden arrival of thousands of people in Ceuta — more than
had attempted the crossing in all the rest of the year so far —
comes amid a deepening diplomatic spat between Spain and Morocco
over the hospitalization in Spain of the leader of a rebel group
that has fought for the independence of Western Sahara from
Morocco.
Videos broadcast on Spanish television on Tuesday appeared to
show Moroccan border guards opening fences to the Spanish
enclave. While Morocco has warned of “consequences” for
harboring the rebel leader, it was not immediately clear if the
spike in migration was linked to the diplomatic dispute.
The sudden arrival of migrants has created a humanitarian
emergency in Ceuta, a Spanish autonomous city of 80,000
residents off the tip of Morocco and just some 18 miles from
Spain’s mainland territory across the Mediterranean.
Spanish television showed military trucks stationed on beaches,
and law enforcement officers carrying children in their arms,
distributing blankets, providing water and evacuating others who
had arrived in the area, many of whom appeared cold and
exhausted.
Children could be seen shivering on beaches and some were
covered with safety blankets. At least one person died during
the crossing, according to Spanish and European officials.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of Spain visited Ceuta on Tuesday
and said that his priority was to “get the situation back to
normal” in Ceuta.
“We’ll be firm to guarantee your safety in face of any
challenge,” Mr. Sánchez said in an address to the city’s
residents.
About 200 additional law enforcement troops were sent to control
Spain’s border, in addition to the 1,100 troops stationed in the
area, according to the Spanish government, in response to the
apparent relaxation of border controls from the Moroccan
authorities.
Mr. Sánchez said the collaboration between the countries should
“be based on the respect of mutual borders.”
The European Union on Tuesday echoed Mr. Sánchez’s remarks.
“The most important thing now is that Morocco continues to
commit to prevent irregular departures, and that those that do
not have the right to stay are orderly and effectively
returned,” said Ylva Johansson, the European Union’s
commissioner for home affairs.
“Spanish borders are European borders,” Ms. Johansson added,
calling the arrivals “unprecedented” and “worrying.”
Human rights organizations have warned against the use of
excessive force against the migrants and condemned the return of
more than 2,700 of them.
“These kinds of summary expulsions mean people have no chance to
apply for asylum or make other claims to remain in Spain,” said
Judith Sunderland, Human Rights Watch’s associate director for
Europe and Central Asia.
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The Spanish authorities said they were not summarily returning
minors, yet Ms. Sunderland questioned whether Spain may have
sent back children or vulnerable people, given the speed with
which the authorities had deported nearly half of those who had
crossed the border.
The arrivals in Ceuta this week echoed an influx of migrants on
the Canary Islands that has also tested the Spanish authorities,
with more than 20,000 people coming from Senegal, Morocco and
other African countries last year. More than 850 people died
while trying to reach the islands in 2020, according to a report
by the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration.
“Many of those trying to reach the Canary Islands came from
Senegal and were forced to leave because of the impact of the
pandemic on fishing in particular,” said Julia Black, a project
officer at the organization’s Global Migration Data Analysis
Center and the report’s author.
Until this week, around 4,800 people had crossed into Ceuta,
Melilla (another Spanish enclave in North Africa) or mainland
Spain so far this year, according to government figures, and 106
have died while attempting the Mediterranean crossing, according
to the International Organization for Migration. At least 126
have died while trying to reach the Canary Islands.
The arrivals in Ceuta come against the backdrop of growing
tensions between Spain and Morocco over the hospitalization in
Spain of the leader of the Polisario Front, a separatist
movement that has been fighting for Western Sahara’s
independence from Morocco.
Moroccan officials have reacted with anger over the news that
the leader, Brahim Ghali, had been hospitalized with Covid-19 in
Spain under an alias. The Moroccan foreign ministry said this
month that the authorities would “draw all consequences” from
Spain’s “premeditated” decision to treat Mr. Ghali.
Late on Tuesday, the Moroccan government summoned back the
country’s ambassador to Spain, Karima Benyaich, for
consultations.
Spain’s foreign minister, Arancha González Laya, said in a radio
interview on Monday that Mr. Ghali’s hospitalization was a
humanitarian response to “a person who was in a very, very
fragile health situation.”
She added that Moroccan officials had told their Spanish
counterparts that the sudden rise in migrant crossings was not
the result of a disagreement over the hospitalization.
While Mr. Ghali is still recovering in a hospital in northern
Spain, he is also facing legal action in the country. On
Tuesday, Spain’s national court announced that one of its judges
would reopen a case against Mr. Ghali for human rights abuses,
filed by a human rights association on behalf of people who
claim to have been tortured in camps run by the Polisario Front
in Algeria..
Estrella Galán, the director general of CEAR, a Spanish group
that helps asylum seekers and refugees, said Morocco was using
migration as leverage against Spain.
But she added that Morocco’s move was the consequence of the
European Union’s decision after the refugee crisis of 2015 to
rely on greater control of migration by countries outside the
bloc.
“This is what happens when we convert other countries into
gendarmes of our own borders,” Ms. Galán said.
Late Tuesday, the newspaper El País reported that Morocco had
once more closed the Ceuta border, with Moroccan security forces
patrolling and stopping more people from reaching the Spanish
enclave.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/18/world/europe/spain-migrants- ceuta-morocco.html
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