Morocco Rejects Role as Europe’s Border Guard Amid Migrant Crisis in Ceuta

Nasser Bourita returned this weekend to the diplomatic tensions generated by the passage of at least 8,000 people into the Ceuta enclave. Among them, minors, entire families. Accused of having deliberately let the migrants through, many of whom were Moroccan and sub-Saharan nationals, Morocco indicated that it is not its role to be the guardian of borders that are not its own. "Morocco is not meant to be the policeman of Europe, nor its concierge," Nasser Bourita said on LCI, before adding: "Morocco does it as a partner. If the foundations of this partnership are not respected, we must ask Spain, a European country, if it has consulted Europe before acting against the interests of this partner".

Relations between Rabat and Madrid have crumbled since the Spanish authorities welcomed Brahim Ghali, the leader of the Polisario Front, a movement that resumed arms in November last year in retaliation for a military operation by Morocco.

Morocco describes his trip as "fraudulent" and demands a "transparent" investigation into the conditions under which he was accepted and hospitalized after contracting Covid-19. Madrid insists that its behavior has only a humanitarian character and cannot be described as a betrayal of its everyday ally, Morocco.

According to the explanations provided by Arancha Gonzalez Laya, the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, on the national radio of the country, the Spanish justice system has also reopened this week a case against Brahim Ghali for "crimes against humanity". This is an old complaint filed by a Sahrawi association accusing him of "human rights violations" on dissidents from the Tindouf camps, in western Algeria.