Melilla’s Economy Struggles as Border Trade with Morocco Remains Stalled

With the closure of the border more than four years ago, most of the merchants in General Astilleros in Melilla had to close their shops. Since then, this neighborhood of the autonomous city is no longer animated, and the situation has not really changed despite the reopening of the border.

"In the past, the street was full of merchants who opened their shops early in the morning to serve the Moroccans who crossed the Beni-Enzar border to come and buy local products from the city of Melilla," explains Sofiane, a resident of the neighborhood, to El Faro de Melilla.

Today, the street is more deserted than ever. "No one comes through here anymore," complains Abdelkader, an employee of a grocery store. "We live thanks to the neighbors upstairs who have known us forever and come to buy from us... Nothing is like it used to be."

The residents and merchants of this industrial area denounce the lack of lighting system, which plunges the site into darkness as soon as night falls, which becomes a refuge for young people and unaccompanied minors. This explains why the neighborhood is very unsanitary, they lament.

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