Ceuta and Melilla Will One Day Return to Us

Thousands of young Moroccans recently arranged, largely through social media, to meet up in northern Morocco near the enclaves occupied by Spain. Their goal was not to settle in Sebta or Melilla. They knew both towns had lost their economic appeal and were merely a stepping stone toward what they see as the European El Dorado.

The costs and mechanics of a modern-day Exodus

This modern-day exodus had many causes, among them a ruling handed down by a Spanish court on July 8, which held that anyone who reaches Spanish territory by sea cannot be subject to immediate expulsion.

A review of the footage bears this out. The young people who washed up on Sebta’s shores were equipped with makeshift gear to survive the sea: lifebuoys, tires, and sometimes plastic bottles tied around their waists to stay afloat. Inner tubes salvaged from tractors or lorries helped several people swim at once. Others wrapped themselves in plastic sheeting or cling film for protection from the cold and the water. It was undoubtedly these rudimentary methods that led to so many deaths among them.

The heavy toll of this tragic crossing has plunged not only the families involved but the entire Moroccan people into mourning. It has also tarnished the image of a Moroccan government nearing the end of its term, which failed to anticipate this exodus in time and did not show sufficient concern for its young people’s needs in education, training, employment, and leisure.

The images of our young people fleeing the country, and of women with young children left without water or food, have made witnesses of us all to their tragic plight. This mass attempt by our young people to migrate is, in reality, the other side of the same coin as Generation Z — the generation that, until recently, was demanding education, healthcare, and work at home. It is the logical consequence, the natural extension, of that same demand.

This mass migration also appears more problematic and riskier than an individual migration attempt. It draws more attention than a lone migrant who can evade checks and reach their destination; a person who migrates alone has a better chance of success than those who set off in groups, in broad daylight. Yet, paradoxically, it is precisely these mass migrations that have shaped human history and transformed the destinies of nations. For various reasons — conviction, fear, hunger, or simply the desire for a better life — groups of people set out together. The history of Europeans themselves bears witness to such mass movements to conquer distant lands, often through fire and blood.

A history of occupation

And it is, quite rightly, the Spanish conquests that continue to undermine our independence through the occupation of our northern garrisons and the adjacent islands. It is worth recalling the crushing defeat of the Portuguese King Sebastian I in 1578 at Ksar el-Kebir, at the hands of the Saadi Sultan Abdelmalek. This defeat could have led to the reconquest of Portugal by the Moroccans, since it was customary at the time for the vanquished to submit to the victors. Instead, the King of Spain moved quickly to annex Portugal, becoming Philip I and uniting the two crowns until 1640. In the process, he seized the military forts formerly held by Portugal in Ceuta, and later Melilla, following the Portuguese defeat. Since then, every sultan and king of Morocco has continued to demand the return of these garrisons to the motherland.

Weakened by its defeat at Morocco’s hands, Portugal gave Spain greater freedom and impetus to conquer the New World. There, the Spaniards committed crimes that some historians describe as among the gravest demographic disasters in human history — a fate that had already befallen millions of Andalusian Muslims and Jews since the 15th century. Military violence and the deliberate massacre of pre-Columbian civilizations, followed by the forced Christianization of survivors, wiped out the cultural heritage of many tribes and peoples across the region. The Spanish, like other European powers, unscrupulously added yet another crime against humanity to this record: the slave trade.

It was not until the 19th century, with the rise of American power, that Washington and the other European powers finally drove Spain out of the Americas. The European powers then reorganized to continue their “civilizing” mission, agreeing to the partition of Africa at the Berlin Conference of 1884. Spain established a presence in the Moroccan Sahara that same year, from which it would not withdraw until 1976, following the Green March. Throughout the French Protectorate era, Spain cooperated actively with Paris against Morocco’s interests, controlling the whole of northern Morocco, largely from Ceuta.

The lasting legacy of the Rift resistance

Under the leadership of Abdelkrim el-Khattabi, armed resistance organized in the Rif from 1921 to 1926, culminating in the rout of Spanish troops. Spain suffered thousands of casualties, putting Sebta and Melilla in direct danger. A new school of resistance was born, one that would inspire other liberation and guerrilla movements worldwide, notably in Vietnam and Algeria. France then came to Spain’s aid, both to prevent the conflict from spreading across Morocco and to save Spain from near-certain defeat in the Rif. France would intervene again in 1958, during Operation Ecouvillon in southern Morocco — then the Spanish Sahara — to prevent another defeat at the hands of the Moroccan liberation army.

During the Rif War, the Spanish army did not hesitate to use prohibited weapons, including chemical gas, against resistance fighters and civilians — effects still felt in the region today. Later, General Francisco Franco recruited thousands of Moroccan fighters from the Rif to fight in his civil war against the Republicans in Spain, from 1936 to 1939. These Moroccan soldiers joined the conflict more out of necessity and duress than conscious choice. They spearheaded the Nationalists’ early offensives against the Republicans and took part in all the major battles, including the march on Madrid and the Battle of the Ebro, the bloodiest of the Spanish Civil War.

The recent exodus of our young people to the two occupied towns is, therefore, merely the consequence of this entire turbulent history between the two countries. It has shone a light on the anachronistic colonial reality that Sebta and Melilla still represent.

Time for a final resolution

Several international media outlets have reported on this, highlighting the migrants’ plight alongside the broader migration phenomenon. They have examined the situation of two towns that lie neither in Spain nor in Europe, but squarely on Moroccan territory, in Africa. They have asked what Spain is still doing in a part of the world that does not belong to it, and which it continues to occupy in defiance of common sense and good neighborly relations.

Other countries have tried to capitalize on the situation, seizing on this strictly bilateral dispute for their own gain. Israel’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, for instance, stated that it was high time Spain explained to the world why it still maintains colonial enclaves in Morocco. Similarly, the US State Department, under Marco Rubio, criticized Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, accusing him of facilitating mass illegal immigration into Europe.

Trump himself warned that if the Democrats return to power after him, the United States would be overrun by something worse than this “invasion.” As for other Arab, Muslim, or African countries, there has been total silence — and, in some cases, a condescending satisfaction at seeing Morocco once again embroiled in a conflict with its northern neighbor.

But this crisis, which is by no means the first between Morocco and Spain, will certainly not be the last. It is a time of recurring tension and upheaval — tragic, to be sure — between two close neighbors. It is a festering sore, one that flares up intermittently and allows this colonial issue to persist unresolved. Solutions can be devised that safeguard Spanish interests while acknowledging Morocco’s legitimate claims. Madrid should reflect on the example of its neighbor Portugal, which, following the Carnation Revolution of 1974, voluntarily relinquished its colonial hold over Macao, handing it back to Beijing in 1999.

Similarly, the United Kingdom managed to resolve the handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997 in a peaceful manner, even though China lies far from the European continent. What, then, are Spain and its political class waiting for, to adopt the only sensible course — one that serves our common future — and finally recognize Morocco’s rights over its northern enclaves and neighboring islands?

Yesterday, young Moroccans marched toward the border posts for economic reasons, seeking to improve their lives and try their luck in Europe. Nothing guarantees that tomorrow they will not attempt to join them again — this time for historical and political reasons. So, to our northern neighbors, we say: lift the weight of your boot from our lands, return to us what was never yours, and leave our shores. Only then can a true alliance between equal and complementary nations be forged.