The Spanish Interior Minister, Fernando Grande-Malaska, announced on Saturday, during his visit to Melilla, that the ongoing work to strengthen the fence on the border with Morocco will be completed in the next three months.
The Spanish intelligence services (CNI) claim that thousands of sub-Saharan migrants stormed the Melilla border last Wednesday because Morocco "has ceased to control" this border area.
The Vox party continues to denounce the passivity of the Spanish government in the face of Morocco’s "attacks" on Spanish territorial integrity and its intention to annex the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla.
The Moroccan government said on Thursday it had mobilized huge resources to curb illegal immigration after the massive assault of several hundred sub-Saharan Africans at the Melilla border.
The Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, affirmed today to maintain contacts with the Moroccan authorities concerning the situation prevailing in Melilla, where two assaults by sub-Saharan migrants took place on Wednesday and Thursday.
The attempted entry of some 2,500 migrants, mostly of sub-Saharan origin, into Melilla on Wednesday, March 2, is viewed unfavorably by the Spanish authorities. Some political leaders see the passivity of Morocco and the pressure exerted by the Moroccan government.
The Vox party has tabled a bill in Congress asking the government to take the necessary measures to proceed with the delineation of the borders in Ceuta and Melilla in order to properly delimit the Spanish territorial waters in these areas near Morocco.
The legalization of cannabis is a "breath of fresh air" for Morocco and an economic alternative to smuggling in the border areas of Ceuta and Melilla, according to the Moroccan Institute of Strategic Intelligence.
Over the past nine months, more than 2,500 Moroccans have applied for asylum in Spain. 360 have been deported while nearly 10,000 others have "voluntarily" returned to their country, according to Spanish authorities.
The Spanish Senate on Thursday rejected the proposal by the Vox party to amend Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty to explicitly include the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla under NATO protection .
The Spanish government has assured that "it will act firmly" if the territorial integrity of Spain is violated by Morocco, which has announced the deployment of anti-aircraft systems in Tangier and Nador, near Ceuta and Melilla.
Combat tanks from the Spanish army traveled the streets of the city of Melilla last Tuesday. The maneuver did not go unnoticed on the Moroccan side.