The Ceuta crisis is forcing Rabat to face up to internal issues

Rome. Four days after the start of the Ceuta crisis, yesterday a Spanish minister raised the issue of Morocco’s responsibilities for the first time. It was the Defence Minister, Margarita Robles, who called on the government in Rabat to investigate the massive influx of thousands of migrants into the Spanish exclave and to ascertain who was responsible for the incident, and she condemned the fact that “young people are being thrown to their deaths”.

Until now, both Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, had avoided attributing responsibility for the mass migration towards Ceuta to Morocco. Instead, both attributed the trigger to a misinterpretation of the Spanish Supreme Court’s ruling on summary expulsions, which was allegedly circulated on social media by networks of human traffickers. The Spanish opposition had also avoided blaming Rabat, instead directing their criticism at Sánchez. According to the People’s Party, this was because he was unable to command respect. According to Vox, it was because he had orchestrated the whole situation solely to remain in power. Criticism of the government also came from various trade unions and police associations, which in the days leading up to the crisis had sounded the alarm over migratory pressure and the lack of resources to manage the border with Ceuta.

Yet, following an initial silence from the authorities in Rabat, a spokesperson for the Moroccan Ministry of the Interior, in a statement reported by the national media, stated that what happened in Ceuta was not the result of “spontaneous circumstances or contingent factors”, but rather a combination of “malicious exploitation of the digital space and the activities of human trafficking networks”, together with “the spread of misleading information and misinterpretations that accompanied the recent decisions of the Spanish judicial authorities”. These “erroneous interpretations”, stemming from disinformation, “reinforced the belief, amongst some of those wishing to emigrate, that they could avoid immediate repatriation”. Prior to this statement, the leading institutional voice to speak out had been that of Morocco’s ambassador to Spain, Karima Benyaich. During the reception held in Madrid to celebrate Throne Day last Friday, she had stated that the situation in Ceuta was “unwanted” by the Kingdom of Morocco and had occurred “beyond their control”. The diplomat had attributed responsibility solely to the “criminal mafias” involved in human trafficking, and had defended the “exemplary cooperation” which, in her view, Rabat and Madrid maintain in tackling migratory pressure.

The same argument was subsequently put forward by Moroccan media outlets, such as Alyaoum24, which claimed that the fake news circulated via WhatsApp and Facebook groups had ‘perverse aims and objectives’ designed to ‘discredit Morocco’s image’ during the Throne Day celebrations. Le360, which is very close to King Mohammed VI, also attributed the crisis to the “unsustainable situation” in Ceuta and Melilla – considered occupied territories – and stated that both “will be reintegrated into their natural environment, Morocco”. And whilst the Moroccan government prefers to have newspapers say certain things rather than make official statements, Madrid too may be beginning to adopt a similar approach, according to anonymous “Spanish government sources” who claim that such a migratory movement would not have been possible without the Moroccan authorities being aware of it and deciding to allow it.

This suspicion appears to be confirmed by a number of young people who arrived in Ceuta and reported that they were certainly not hindered, and in some cases were even assisted or directed by the Moroccan police to a variety of reputable publications: the New York Times, the Guardian, El País and Corriere della Sera. El Español, Spain’s leading online newspaper, added that, amongst the tens of thousands of migrants, the Madrid Civil Guard had even identified several agents from Rabat’s secret services.