Fernando Grande-Marlaska, the Spanish Interior Minister, told Radio COPE that he hoped the political dispute with Morocco “will be as short as possible.” Grande-Marlaska described the flood of illegals crossing into Spanish territory as “an attack on our borders, not a migratory crisis,” slamming Morocco’s role in encouraging the illegal migrants towards Ceuta. Spanish officials said Moroccan border guards actually ushered migrants through the gate.
He said Spain has since deployed troops and the situation on Spain’s border in North Africa with Morocco, had normalized and that 6,500 illegal migrants out of the approximately 8,000, who ran and swam into Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta earlier this week, had been returned to Morocco.
In a Facebook post earlier in the week, Morocco’s Minister of State for Human Rights, El Mustapha Ramid had warned the Spanish government in Madrid not to mess with Morocco. “What did Spain expect from Morocco, which sees its neighbor hosting the head of a group that took up arms against the kingdom?” he wrote.
Ramid was referring to the freedom fighter Brahim Ghali, who heads up Polisario, which is a Western Sahara independence group, in conflict with Morocco. In April, Ghali had been taken to Spain to be treated for Covid-19.
“Morocco has the right to lean back and stretch its legs… so that Spain knows that underestimating Morocco is costly,” Ramid added.
Spain’s Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya confirmed on April 23 that Ghali, 71, had arrived in Spain from Algeria “strictly for humanitarian reasons, for medical treatment.” However Ghali has been summoned by Spain’s high court to appear on June 1 on charges of war crimes.
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