Star Metro - Hundreds of migrants flood into Spain's Ceuta exclave from Morocco

Migration from Morocco into Spain's two north African territories, Ceuta and Melilla, has long been a politically sensitive issue between the two countries, as thousands cross the border at times.

AFP reporters saw a stream of adults and children, most of them wet, entering the town. Discarded flotation rings and clothes had been left on the shore near where the frontier barrier meets the sea.

"The Armed Forces will reinforce the Civil Guard in the exercise of its powers and any others that may be necessary to maintain security in the city of Ceuta," Spain's interior ministry said.

It did not specify how many soldiers would be sent to the small territory of 18.5 square kilometres (seven square miles) but said the Civil Guard's strength there would be nearly doubled from the current level of 80.

It will also send diving teams and coastguard ships.

According to footage broadcast by public television, Civil Guard officers were merely monitoring the entry of migrants near a border post in the south of Ceuta.

This is the largest inflow of people into Ceuta since May 2021, when more than 10,000 migrants entered the autonomous city from Morocco in just two days.

Spanish authorities have recovered the bodies of nine migrants who died while trying to reach Ceuta by swimming, the Spanish government’s delegation in the enclave told AFP.

The president of Ceuta, Juan Vivas, said Wednesday that 1,500 migrants had come to Ceuta by sea in the past few days.

Vivas had already warned that the reception centres were saturated as the number of people entering was more than 200 a day.

"There is no more room for anyone," he told Spanish television.

- Gathering in Morocco -

Migrants walked cheerfully through the streets of Ceuta, thanking the Spanish police and calling out: "Bye bye, Morocco, hello Spain."

Police and Civil Guards in Ceuta appeared to do little to intervene, though some officers attempted to direct the arrivals to the local migrant reception centre.

"It really breaks my heart to see so many people suffering, and who knows how many have actually drowned along the way," one young man, a local resident, told AFP.

"To be honest, I don't understand why they come to Spain, why they're led to believe that there's a future here," he added.

"When they arrive, they're faced with the harsh reality that they have nothing, and that people treat them as if they were nobody."

On the Moroccan side of the border, an AFP reporter on Thursday afternoon saw hundreds of people including children gathered near the border between Ceuta and the local town of Fnideq, waiting to cross into the Spanish territory.

Some of them said they had come after hearing rumours that the border was going to be opened on Thursday morning.

Moroccan authorities did not comment.

The crossings coincided with Morocco's Throne Day, a national festival.

- 'Immediate response' promised -

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on X that his government was "focussed on providing an immediate response to the crisis in Ceuta.

"We are mobilising all necessary resources, working with Moroccan and international authorities, and preparing the necessary measures to restore normality as soon as possible."

Sanchez spoke with Vivas, who described "with complete clarity and starkness the seriousness of the situation", Ceuta's regional government said in a statement.

Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska will travel to Ceuta on Friday "to monitor the situation", said a ministry statement.

The ministry vaunted "Spain's exemplary cooperation with Morocco in all areas, including on migration", pointing the finger at human-trafficking networks.

It said the two countries would implement "measures for the transfer" to Morocco "as soon as possible, of all the people who have entered Ceuta illegally".

It said the government had increased its resources "to guarantee security and control of migration as well as the necessary humanitarian aid, so that no lives are put in danger at sea".

Sanchez's right-wing political rivals immediately pressured him on Thursday over the migrant arrivals.

"The government cannot look the other way regarding its duties because we are facing a national security crisis," said opposition Popular Party leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo on X.

Far-right Vox party leader Santiago Abascal on X blamed Sanchez personally for the migrant influx in Ceuta.

Ceuta and Melilla have Europe's only two land borders with Africa.

D.Ch. Nadeau--SMC