The newspaper “El Faro” published in Ceuta put the number of migrants at at least 2,700. How many there were is still unclear. The people had to cover almost two kilometers in the water. For comparison: just around 85,000 people live in the city of Ceuta.
Both newspapers cited the anger of the government in Rabat that Spain allowed medical treatment for the head of the Polisario independence movement for Western Sahara, Brahim Ghali, as a possible reason for the Moroccan police inactive. He has been treated for corona disease in a Spanish hospital since April.
Tensions increased again
Western Sahara on the North African Atlantic coast was a Spanish colony until 1975. Morocco controls large parts of the sparsely populated area on its southern border. The Polisario seeks independence for the Western Sahara. Morocco only wants to grant the region autonomy. Tensions rose again after a Moroccan military operation in Western Sahara in November.
In addition, US President Donald Trump, who had already been voted out but was still in office, confirmed Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara in December. Since then, tensions have increased between Morocco and European countries that criticized Trump’s decision. So Rabat called his ambassador back from Berlin at the beginning of May.
The authorities in Ceuta with around 85,000 inhabitants were overwhelmed by the mass exodus. «On Sunday there were about 70 people in the reception center for illegal migrants. I don’t know what to do with people or where to put them, “the newspaper quoted a person in charge in the exclave. (SDA / bra)