Key Takeaways:
Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said Madrid is working daily with Morocco’s Nasser Bourita to block a possible new rush on Ceuta after social media calls to storm the border on Sept. 23, Morocco’s election day.
He said those posts have less reach than before the July surge, when about 80,000 irregular migrants entered the exclave and more than 100 people died; Rabat has been asked to reinforce the frontier.
Declassified Spanish reports called Morocco’s July response passive or worse and alleged forces helped usher people forward—claims Rabat denies. Albares cited an Aug. 15 halt of thousands as proof of later cooperation and said Morocco is “receptive” on disinformation.(EurActiv) — Spain is working with Morocco to prevent a new mass crossing into Ceuta this week, the country’s Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said on Monday, amid fresh social media calls to storm the border.
The warnings have raised alarm in Madrid over a potential repeat of July’s massive border surge, when approximately 80,000 irregular migrants entered the tiny Spanish exclave in North Africa by land and sea, overwhelming the border as more than 100 people died.
Speaking to radio network Canal Sur, Albares confirmed that social media messages were calling for people to storm the border on 23 September, the day Morocco holds legislative elections.
“The information that I have is that there are some messages on social media. However, they do not have the impact of those from July 30,” he said.
Albares said he had been in daily contact since the July crisis with his Moroccan counterpart Nasser Bourita and had asked Rabat to take “all preventive measures”, including reinforcing its border forces.
Recently declassified Spanish security and intelligence reports from before the July breach described the response of Moroccan authorities as “passive” and “negligent”, while noting the unusual absence of Moroccan forces from the heavily guarded border.
A separate Spanish police report went further, alleging that Moroccan security forces helped organise the influx and ushered migrants towards the border. Rabat has denied responsibility.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has also said in Congress that Moroccan gendarmes “allowed people to cross the border for 10 hours”, although his government has stopped short of blaming Rabat for orchestrating the surge.
Albares nevertheless pointed to a later attempted crossing on 15 August as evidence of Moroccan cooperation, when thousands of migrants, predominantly from sub-Saharan Africa, were stopped before reaching the border.
Pressed in a separate interview with Catalunya Ràdio on Monday about what Morocco was doing to prevent another influx, Albares said Rabat had been “receptive” to tackling social media disinformation encouraging young Moroccans to cross into Ceuta.
Morocco maintains that human-smuggling networks and disinformation triggered the July surge, a position broadly backed by Sánchez’s government despite mounting questions over Rabat’s role. Morocco has previously used migration pressure during diplomatic disputes with Spain, while Moroccan officials have continued to assert claims over Ceuta and Melilla – Spain’s other exclave in North Africa.