More than 300 migrants rescued off the coast of MoroccoMorocco’s navy has rescued 344 migrants, including women and children, after their makeshift boats ran into difficulty in the Mediterranean and Atlantic, the MAP news agency reported Thursday. It said the migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, were rescued between last Saturday and Wednesday.“They were given first aid on board units of the Royal Navy, before being transported to the nearest ports in the kingdom and handed over to the Royal Gendarmerie,” MAP said, citing a military source. The flow of migrants towards Europe has not eased, despite stronger measures linked to the coronavirus pandemic. Migrants try to reach the Spanish enclaves of Melilla and Ceuta in Morocco, or the Spanish mainland, while in the Atlantic Ocean they make for Spain’s Canary Islands. Last month, as many as 10,000 migrants surged into Ceuta as Moroccan border guards looked the other way, at a time of diplomatic tensions between Rabat and Madrid. At the beginning of July, the navy said it picked up 244 people in the Mediterranean and Atlantic in just two days. Nearly 2,100 migrants died trying to reach Spain by sea during the first six months of 2021, roughly the same number as during all of last year, a migrant rights group said on July 7. Spanish interior ministry figures show that between January 1 and June 30, a total of 12,622 migrants arrived in Spain by sea, compared with 7,256 a year |
Dozens of people tried to cross from Morocco into Spain’s African enclave of Melilla on Wednesday, Spanish officials said, with tension running high between the two nations. Last month, Spain was caught off guard when as many as 10,000 people surged into their other African enclave Ceuta as Moroccan border guards looked the other way. Roughly 20 people made it to Melilla on Wednesday and two Spanish police officers were slightly injured, a spokesman for the Spanish government’s delegation in Melilla said.
“The migrants threw stones at Moroccan security forces who cooperated actively with Spanish security forces to contain the assault,” he told AFP. Those who got in were taken to a government-run centre for migrants where they will be tested for the coronavirus. On Monday, some 200 people tried to scale the fence with 119 of them making it across.
Migrants routinely try to cross the Moroccan border into Melilla and Spain’s other enclave of Ceuta, which have Europe’s only land crossing with Africa. They either swim along the coastline, climb border fences or hide in vehicles, in what can be dangerous or deadly attempts to make it to Europe. Last month’s incident came during a diplomatic crisis over Western Sahara, which has long pushed for independence from Morocco.
Spain had angered Morocco by allowing a separatist leader to be treated at a Spanish hospital, and the border breach was widely seen as a punitive move by Rabat. Although the Polisario leader left Spain on June 2, diplomatic relations have remained tense.
AFP
