The Spanish intelligence service CNI alerted the authorities in Ceuta the day before mass arrival of migrants at the end of July on a possible "land and sea attack" on the Spanish exclave in North Africa.
It comes from classified documents released by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's government in Madrid this week. writes Deutsche Welle.
According to those documents, on July 29, the CNI informed the government office in Ceuta and the Civil Guard unit about calls on social media to cross the border the next day. The two social media groups that were affected by the warning had a total of about 180.000 followers.
The special information of the intelligence service also talked about the planned attempts to reach Ceuta by swimming across the sea and crossing the border fence. According to the now published documents, the Moroccan authorities were also informed about this.
Thousands of migrants still in Ceuta
According to the Spanish government, on July 30 and 31, up to 80.000 migrants arrived in Ceuta from Morocco. Most of them later returned to Morocco, but thousands of people are still in the Spanish exclave.
The government released about 40 documents created between July 1 and August 1. With this, Sánchez, according to his own words, wants to show that the government was not warned about the scale of the migrant wave.
According to the government, the calls on social networks were known, but "in no way indicated the scale, manner or likelihood of what happened next and could not be interpreted as such."
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez stated that "based on the information available at the time, no one could have predicted the migrant crisis" that occurred on July 30 and 31. "This has not been done by any competent authority, neither in Spain nor in the EU," Sanchez wrote on the X network.
What role did Morocco play?
At the same time, Sánchez emphasized that he had not seen any document that provided "solid evidence that Morocco planned or caused the incident."
Doubts about Rabat's role were further heightened after a police report was leaked last week. It points to the "leniency" of Moroccan security forces during the migrant crisis. They allegedly did not make a serious attempt to "reduce, disperse or remove the mass of people from the border zone".
After the event, there were speculations that Morocco may have deliberately missed the migrants, due, among other things, to Sánchez's visit to Algeria in July.
Morocco and Algeria have been fighting over Western Sahara for decades. In 2022, Spain abandoned its long-standing neutrality and supported the Moroccan position on the matter.
Some analysts believe that Sanchez's recent visit to Algeria could have caused discontent in Rabat.
The opposition accuses the government
The Spanish opposition is now accusing the government of failing to act despite the warnings. At the same time, they criticize it because, in their opinion, it absolves Morocco of responsibility in advance.
"The government knew everything about what was happening," said Esther Muñoz from the conservative People's Party (PP).
She accused the Sánchez government of having the necessary information: "It bears direct responsibility for the influx of migrants in Ceuta," she said.
The government is facing strong pressure, not only from the opposition, but also from the public. Thus, on September 2, on Ceuta Day, mass protests were held across Spain in support of that exclave and against the government's migration policy. According to data from the central authorities, around 50.000 people gathered in Madrid alone.
The EU approved aid of 114,7 million euros
This Wednesday (September 9), the European Union granted Spain emergency aid in the amount of 114,7 million euros.
The European Commission announced that the funds will be used to strengthen border control, return illegal migrants and expand the reception capacity in Ceuta. In addition, Frontex, Europol and the EU Asylum Agency should help local authorities more intensively.
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares welcomed Brussels' decision, but pointed out that it can only represent a first step.
"There is nothing that can compare to the challenges at the border with Africa and the migration pressure that comes from that," Albares said.
He warned that due to the large differences in income and education between Africa and Europe, migration pressure will remain very high in the future.
The president of Ceuta, Juan Jesus Vivas, said the same thing earlier. He called on the European Union to help the enclave in dealing with the crisis.
"Ceuta is a pressure cooker right now that could explode at any moment," Vivas said. "We're on the verge of a nervous breakdown."
He called for better border security, investment in infrastructure and additional financial aid to overcome what he called a "humanitarian catastrophe".
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