Ceuta Faces Humanitarian Strain After Migrant Surge

Ceuta, Spain's North African exclave, continues to grapple with the aftermath of last week's mass migrant influx. Hundreds of people were living in makeshift camps on the beach on Monday as local authorities struggled to cope with the thousands of migrants still in the city.

Spanish authorities estimate that around 69,500 migrants have returned to Morocco over the past four days. At least 72 people died on the Spanish side of the border, while Moroccan authorities have confirmed 11 deaths on their side. Many migrants returned because of food shortages, closed shops, hostile reactions from local residents and the inability to travel onward to mainland Spain.

Juan Jesús Vivas, president of the Ceuta regional government, said between 3,000 and 5,000 migrants remain in the exclave and that reception centers for both adults and minors are overcrowded. Local authorities are also caring for 862 unaccompanied migrant minors, who are protected from deportation under Spanish law.

The crisis has also sparked diplomatic tensions within the European Union. Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said Spain expects the same support from its European partners that it has shown other member states during previous migration crises. EU interior ministers are due to discuss the situation during an emergency videoconference on Tuesday.

According to El País and Cadena SER, Spanish intelligence services concluded that Morocco did not organize the mass crossing but allowed it to happen. Morocco's Interior Ministry maintains that the surge was fueled by misinformation on social media, human trafficking networks and widespread misinterpretation of a Spanish court ruling

(Reuters, bak)