PREVIEW
Authorities have arrested 152 people who will face trial on accusations they used social media to incite mass illegal migration into Ceuta
The decision by law enforcement authorities to arrest 152 people for allegedly encouraging migrant crossings into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta at Morocco’s northern tip, suggests that the government is doing its bit to curry favour with Europe’s hardline border control.
The group will now face trial on accusations they used social media to incite an attempt at mass illegal migration into Ceuta, a government spokesperson said on 20 September.
Though Morocco does not have a formal arrangement with the EU to control migration, unlike its regional neighbours Egypt, Tunisia and Mauritania, it is, after Turkey, the largest recipient of EU money for border control to the tune of around €200 million a year.
Migration via North Africa and the Central Mediterranean route has dropped dramatically by 64% this year, with Frontex (the European Border and Coast Guard Agency), attributing this to ‘preventive measures by the Tunisian and Libyan authorities to disrupt the activities of smugglers’.
By contrast, the West African migratory route to the Spanish Canary Islands has seen a 154% spike in irregular arrivals, the largest increase in migration flows this year, according to Frontex.
Between January and August, Morocco stopped 45,015 people from illegally migrating to Europe, according to interior ministry figures.
Morocco has previously had no compunction about temporarily opening the border to the Ceuta enclave – a process known as ‘instrumentalisation’ that has also been used by the likes of Russia and Belarus at the EU’s eastern borders (AC Vol 62 No 12, Spain feels M6's fury).
However, the move in early August by French President Emmanuel Macron to back Rabat’s sovereignty over Western Sahara, joining Spain which adopted the same position in 2022, was a major diplomatic win for Rabat (Dispatches 24/3/22, Dropping the Polisario Front, Madrid backs Rabat).
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