A large crowd has assembled in Fnideq, a town in northern Morocco close to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, displaying photographs of their missing relatives in hopes of locating them. This area recently gained international attention following the arrival of approximately 72,000 individuals into Ceuta, a small Spanish territory in North Africa.
On Tuesday, as interior ministers from various EU nations convened an emergency video conference to address ongoing tensions, the focus shifted to the tragic loss of life on the Moroccan side of the border. Local authorities reported that at least 88 individuals have died in Ceuta, with an additional 11 fatalities in Morocco, and many others are still unaccounted for.
Hadijja, a mother waiting at the border since Saturday, expressed her anguish as she searched for her 23-year-old son among the returning individuals. “I have not heard from him; his phone is off,” she lamented. Traveling from her home in Tangier, she believed her son might be one of those who crossed into Spain without notifying her. “This is a tragedy,” she stated.
Spain’s interior minister revealed that around 70,000 of those who entered Ceuta last week have been returned to Morocco in the ensuing days. Many migrants, motivated by social media claims that Morocco was permitting crossings, arrived in Fnideq on foot or packed into vehicles, eager to make the journey into Spain.
In response, Madrid coordinated efforts with Rabat to swiftly return most of the migrants within a 48-hour timeframe, while simultaneously addressing a political crisis fueled by calls for Spain’s suspension from the Schengen Area.
Upon their return to Morocco, some migrants described their experiences as voluntary. Abselam, a 19-year-old from Kenitra, recounted feeling “hungry for days and filled with fear” before a resident of Ceuta offered him food and shelter. Ultimately, he decided it was not worth the risk, stating, “There aren’t jobs for everyone.”
Conversely, others reported being compelled to leave Ceuta. Simo, a 21-year-old from Tetuan, shared, “The police surrounded us and escorted us to the border; we had no choice.”
In recent days, NGOs in Spain have raised alarms about the treatment of migrants who crossed into Ceuta and might be eligible for international protection but were returned without the opportunity to claim asylum. On Tuesday, the Spanish government estimated that around 2,000 people remained in Ceuta, including at least 862 unaccompanied minors, with Unicef Spain warning that many more could be lost in the streets of the city.
“Many small children crossed over; we don’t know how many have disappeared,” noted Susana Hidalgo, a migration expert. She described the situation in Ceuta as “tremendously difficult,” highlighting the plight of families searching for their children. “There are 10- and 12-year-old kids asking for phones to contact their mothers and reassure them,” she added.
The Spanish police announced on Tuesday the establishment of an office in Ceuta to compile reports of missing individuals. The urgency of the situation intensified after a video surfaced showing a 12-year-old boy pleading with a soldier not to be sent back to Morocco. The operation was halted after nearby bystanders intervened, reminding officials of the legal protections against deporting minors alone.
In the aftermath of the rapid influx, questions remain about the underlying causes of the mass crossing. Morocco has faced increasing scrutiny regarding its potential involvement. Juan Jesús Vivas, the conservative leader of Ceuta, suggested that the situation may have been either orchestrated or at least facilitated by Moroccan authorities.
A senior Moroccan official dismissed this narrative, arguing that it oversimplifies the complexities of the situation. “At a certain point, Moroccan law enforcement could no longer manage the large numbers of migrants,” he explained, emphasizing that it was unrealistic to expect Spain to respond with force alone.
In a statement released on Sunday, Morocco’s interior ministry attributed the mass crossing to the “exploitation of the digital sphere” and the “dissemination of misinformation.” Spanish intelligence agencies have indicated that the surge may have stemmed from a falsehood that circulated on social media following a Spanish Supreme Court ruling preventing the summary deportation of migrants arriving by sea.
The Moroccan official noted that they had attempted to alert Spanish authorities to the potential fallout of the ruling. “We began discussions with the Spanish side around July 22-23, when the rumors started circulating. We warned that this ruling would lead to a problem, and indeed it did,” he stated.
However, Spain’s migration minister, Elma Saiz, refuted this claim, asserting that there had been no prior indications or reports that would have prepared them for the scale of the event. The ambiguity surrounding the incident continues to raise concerns and questions about the circumstances that led to the mass migration.
