European Union, member states and Agencies

An act of hybrid war is going on in Africa right now, with the city of Ceuta (a spanish enclave in Morocco) being overwhelmed by around 60.000 people that crossed the border illegally, mainly by climbing on the rock hills or swimming.



Dozens of people died trying to enter the city.




Madrid and the EU are now pointing towards Morocco, that clearly encouraged the "assault" and didn't do anything to stop the migrants.
Morocco has been complaining for years that Ceuta and Melilla are "colonialist" outposts of Europe in Africa. It is not surprising that this is happening.


Thanks to the intervention of the armed forces, around 25.000 people have already been sent back to Morocco.

Who are these people? From Morocco or other parts of Africa, middle east?

60,000 people don't magically appear from thin air. It needs to be organized, people housed and trucked to the location over a period of time. There is no intelligence?

koxinga said:

Who are these people? From Morocco or other parts of Africa, middle east?

60,000 people don't magically appear from thin air. It needs to be organized, people housed and trucked to the location over a period of time. There is no intelligence?

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They all come from Morocco, at least the vast majority of them. There was intelligence of Morocco pushing some thousands people towards the fortified city (Ceuta and Melilla are literally 21st century fortresses) but thats wasn't particularly impressive.
Almost every month we had similar situations. Sometimes 500 people, sometimes 5000... In 2022 around 10,000 people tried to cross the border.
The scale this time was just too big for the border to hold.

Both Ceuta and Melilla are guarded by Legion troops, so they are now stabilizing the situation.

The action was clearly organized by Morocco. It is not the first time.

SolarisKenzo said:

They all come from Morocco, at least the vast majority of them. There was intelligence of Morocco pushing some thousands people towards the fortified city (Ceuta and Melilla are literally 21st century fortresses) but thats wasn't particularly impressive.
Almost every month we had similar situations. Sometimes 500 people, sometimes 5000... In 2022 around 10,000 people tried to cross the border.
The scale this time was just too big for the border to hold.

Both Ceuta and Melilla are guarded by Legion troops, so they are now stabilizing the situation.

The action was clearly organized by Morocco. It is not the first time.

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So what will the EU reaction be if many of these people end up in Spain and begin crossing into the rest of Europe wrt Spain- EU relations? Cannot believe the reaction will be positive.

John Fedup said:

So what will the EU reaction be if many of these people end up in Spain and begin crossing into the rest of Europe wrt Spain- EU relations? Cannot believe the reaction will be positive.

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They will not end up in mainland Europa, certainly not many of them. Ceuta and Melilla are only reachable by ferry/plane.
That is not really a concern.

The problem is that Morocco is voluntarily supporting and organizing acts of hybrid war.

deleted.

SolarisKenzo said:

They will not end up in mainland Europa, certainly not many of them. Ceuta and Melilla are only reachable by ferry/plane.
That is not really a concern.

The problem is that Morocco is voluntarily supporting and organizing acts of hybrid war.

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Given the nature of these actions, would a more robust perimeter help? Or would it just shift the problem into another form?

Feanor said:

Given the nature of these actions, would a more robust perimeter help? Or would it just shift the problem into another form?

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Not really familiar with the Spanish enclave adjacent to Morocco but it seems to be a possession to be deposed of and then use the navy to prevent crossing via the Gibraltar Strait.

John Fedup said:

Not really familiar with the Spanish enclave adjacent to Morocco but it seems to be a possession to be deposed of and then use the navy to prevent crossing via the Gibraltar Strait.

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I was thinking of perimeter hardening.

John Fedup said:

Not really familiar with the Spanish enclave adjacent to Morocco but it seems to be a possession to be deposed of and then use the navy to prevent crossing via the Gibraltar Strait.

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There are two: Ceuta & Melilla.
Ceuta was Portuguese from 1415 to 1580, then part of the united monarchy of Castile, Aragon & Portugal until 1640, when Portugal seceded, but Ceuta remained with Castile & Aragon, i.e. Spain. It was part of the province of Cadiz until 1995, when it became autonomous. It was a small town in the mid 19th century.

Melilla was seized by Spain in 1497. Apparently it was in a ruinous state after being fought over by Fez & Tlemcen, which at the time were separate states. It's been Spanish ever since, & was part of Malaga province until 1995. It had a tiny population in the mid-19th century, being almost entirely a military outpost.

Both grew spectacularly until 1940.

Feanor said:

Given the nature of these actions, would a more robust perimeter help?

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The "perimeter" is already one of the hardest-reinforced borders anywhere in the world, on a scale with e.g. the southwest border of Israel.

The current situation is that a few days ago the Spanish Supreme Court declared that while Spanish authorities could simply deport without hearings or recourse anyone who had managed to cross the border on land (the long-established procedure), they could not do the same if the person did not cross that perimeter and instead entered Spanish territory through the ocean. As a result, people walked and swam out to and around a breakwater at the border in the ocean from one side of the fence, then back from there to land on the other side.

At least that's how it's portrayed in the press. In reality there are three points in sequence at the border where fences like on the breakwater extend out to the sea, and for that "swim into spain" option people would have to circumnavigate all three. Reinforcement since then consists of at least two additional barbwire lines and hedgehogs placed across the beach as obstacles.

Technically the "other side of the fence" also legally isn't Morocco, but a neutral no-mans-land about 100-200m wide in which Spanish forces operate. Both Ceuta and Melilla have these neutral border zones. The "neutral border zone" is - i think - a Spanish invention in order to claim that people who crossed the first fences into that zone did not "enter Spain" at all, and hence throwing them back into Morocco wasn't even a deportation.

Some also used rafts or boats for the trip "around" the border fence, although that only works during high water. There were already some people in boats that had to be rescued from capsizing over the previous couple days at the exact same spot. Individual swimmers at that point in the last few days were intercepted by RHIBs and thrown back onto the beach on the Moroccan side.

swerve said:

There are two: Ceuta & Melilla.

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Spain would disagree. There's three or four more islands and peninsulas that they claim based on the same treaties. Those have small military outposts, sometimes only temporarily. Additionally there's about the same number again in unsettled rocks.

Thanks for insights, swerve and kato.

kato said:

Spain would disagree. There's three or four more islands and peninsulas that they claim based on the same treaties. Those have small military outposts, sometimes only temporarily. Additionally there's about the same number again in unsettled rocks.

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True, but none of those plazas de soberania have a civilian population, or any value other than symbolic. Ceuta & Melilla have tens of thousands of people each. For Spain, I suspect a major, perhaps the main, obstacle to relinquishing them is the fear of it being seen as setting a precedent.

From accusation toward Israel and Western Right Wing orchestrated this, toward immigation policies being fight again by Euro Right Wingers toward their political adversaries in Left side. Those immigrants (don't know where they come from) clearly being agitated by some parties tp gather momentum. They will not left ceuta toward Euro zone land. However it is clearly being fabricated toward some political gain.

Situation going slowly but steadily back to normal.
Most of the migrants are going back to Morocco on their own.
Apparently no big deal also regarding possible damage inside the city, some vandalism but nothing really serious.

At least 67 dead bodies found.

Death toll continues to increase, with 88 dead bodies recovered by authorities.
Final number is unfortunately set to surpass 100, according to officials.

EU meeting on Ceuta situation just ended.
Commissioner Brunner said around 72,000 people entered or tried to enter Ceuta. Around 70,000 have already returned to Morocco.
Death toll set to reach at least 100, with around 90 bodies already found and possibly more in the sea.
Non-Moroccan children and minor women will be interned in Penitentiary and Camps while authorities find out what to do.

Personally, just another very sad page of history. People sent to die (possibly with false hopes of obtaining asylum and reaching Europe).
Around 30,000 migrants have died in the Mediterranean trying to reach the continent since datas have been recorder in 2014.
Trying to reach Europe, most of the times ending up in a prison island like Lampedusa or Pantelleria, dying swimming in the waters of an exclave like Ceuta or Melilla, being beaten up by Border Guard in a station near the border with Turkey. Festung Europa!