{"id":4827,"date":"2026-09-03T13:46:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T13:46:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/?p=4827"},"modified":"2026-09-03T13:56:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T13:56:14","slug":"sanchez-clears-morocco-of-role-in-ceuta-migration-crisis-and-invites-king-felipe-vi-to-visit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/sanchez-clears-morocco-of-role-in-ceuta-migration-crisis-and-invites-king-felipe-vi-to-visit\/","title":{"rendered":"S\u00e1nchez Clears Morocco of Role in Ceuta Migration Crisis\u2026 and Invites King Felipe VI to Visit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Madrid \u2014 <\/strong>Pedro S\u00e1nchez did not accuse Morocco on Thursday, before the Spanish Congress of Deputies, of being behind the migration crisis that struck occupied Ceuta at the end of July. In fact, his statement pointed in the opposite direction.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Spanish prime minister said clearly that Madrid had no \u201cstrong evidence\u201d proving that Morocco had planned or organized the flow of migrants towards the city, or that any Moroccan side had coordinated the operation. But that official distancing did not bring the Ceuta issue back to calm.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">During the same parliamentary session, S\u00e1nchez revealed that the Spanish government had summoned Morocco\u2019s ambassador in Madrid, Karima Benyaich, on August 21, in response to statements by Moroccan officials concerning the status of Ceuta and Melilla.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">Then S\u00e1nchez opened another, far more sensitive, front: he invited King Felipe VI to visit the two cities in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"es\" dir=\"ltr\">El pasado 30 de julio nuestros agentes tuvieron que elegir entre garantizar moment\u00e1neamente la estanqueidad de la frontera o defender la vida humana.<\/p>\n<p>Eligieron lo segundo.<\/p>\n<p>Hicieron lo correcto, lo m\u00e1s inteligente y valiente. Respondieron con humanidad en lugar de barbarie. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/7b6Vdx3uZ3\">pic.twitter.com\/7b6Vdx3uZ3<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Pedro S\u00e1nchez (@sanchezcastejon) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/sanchezcastejon\/status\/2095420270164988309?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 3, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">That was the order in which the Spanish message was delivered. The migration crisis was not officially linked to Rabat, but the sovereignty issue was not left outside the discussion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">Over the past few weeks, the two questions had increasingly become intertwined in Spain\u2019s political and media debate. The arrival of large numbers of migrants in Ceuta on July 30 and 31 revived questions about the role of Moroccan authorities in monitoring the area surrounding the city, particularly because the arrivals occurred under exceptional circumstances and raised questions about the level of Moroccan security deployment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">Then, on Wednesday, a document presented as originating from the Spanish police began circulating in several media outlets. It referred to a \u201cmuch lower than usual\u201d presence of Moroccan security forces and to allegations of a degree of leniency in dealing with migrants.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"es\" dir=\"ltr\">El Gobierno no tiene nada que ocultar. He dado la orden de publicar un dosier con todos estos informes. TODOS.<\/p>\n<p>Reconozcamos la excepcionalidad del episodio vivido.<\/p>\n<p>Es absurdo pensar que el Gobierno fue avisado y no hizo nada adrede. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/CcuwAhsGrC\">pic.twitter.com\/CcuwAhsGrC<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Pedro S\u00e1nchez (@sanchezcastejon) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/sanchezcastejon\/status\/2095426712121078016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 3, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">The document, however, did not withstand the official denial for long. The head of Spain\u2019s National Police denied its existence, weakening an important part of the material being used to support the theory that the events had been deliberately facilitated by Morocco.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">The following day, S\u00e1nchez\u2019s position before Parliament made the matter clearer: the Spanish government did not have strong evidence showing that Morocco had planned or organized the flow of migrants.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">That statement is difficult to overlook when assessing the crisis, because it came directly from the head of government, in a parliamentary setting where the executive is expected to account for its position. At the very least, it means that the narrative portraying Rabat as the party that planned the operation has not become an official conclusion in Madrid.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"es\" dir=\"ltr\">Quiero enviar un mensaje a toda la ciudadan\u00eda ceut\u00ed. No os vamos a abandonar.<\/p>\n<p>S\u00e9 que est\u00e1is viviendo momentos muy dif\u00edciles y que la mayor\u00eda de vosotros sois personas tolerantes y solidarias.<\/p>\n<p>No vamos a parar de trabajar hasta que Ceuta salga de esta encrucijada m\u00e1s fuerte, m\u00e1s\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/YXqBciLIol\">pic.twitter.com\/YXqBciLIol<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Pedro S\u00e1nchez (@sanchezcastejon) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/sanchezcastejon\/status\/2095438708568641908?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 3, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">That does not mean, however, that all questions surrounding the events have been settled.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">Migration is one issue. Sovereignty is another.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">S\u00e1nchez was careful to separate the two when he turned to statements made by Morocco\u2019s Minister of Justice, Abdellatif Ouahbi, and to remarks delivered by Minister of Habous and Islamic Affairs Ahmed Toufiq before King Mohammed VI on the occasion of the commemoration of the Prophet\u2019s birthday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to the account given by the Spanish prime minister, those statements included an assertion of Morocco\u2019s rights over Ceuta and Melilla. For that reason, he said, Madrid had categorically rejected them and summoned the Moroccan ambassador to convey the Spanish government\u2019s position.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">The summons was not merely a routine administrative gesture. Nor does it, by itself, mean that relations between the two countries have entered a full diplomatic crisis. Madrid chose a familiar diplomatic channel while maintaining, at the same time, its position that the migration issue should be kept separate from the dispute over sovereignty.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"es\" dir=\"ltr\">\u00bfEn qu\u00e9 hubiera diferido la gesti\u00f3n de un Gobierno del PP y Vox en esta crisis?<\/p>\n<p>\u00bfHabr\u00edan ordenado a la Guardia Civil y la Polic\u00eda Nacional disparar a la poblaci\u00f3n civil, Sr. Feij\u00f3o?<\/p>\n<p>Yo, desde luego, un Gobierno as\u00ed no lo quiero ni para mi pa\u00eds ni para ning\u00fan otro. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/HRIrKn7fem\">pic.twitter.com\/HRIrKn7fem<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Pedro S\u00e1nchez (@sanchezcastejon) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/sanchezcastejon\/status\/2095477887579148328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 3, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">That distinction matters for S\u00e1nchez himself.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">Acknowledging evidence of Moroccan involvement in preparing the migration crisis would have placed the Spanish government before an entirely different kind of dispute, particularly given the importance of cooperation with Rabat in combating irregular migration and managing the borders.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">By saying instead that there was no strong evidence, Madrid keeps the affair within the framework of a migration crisis whose full circumstances have yet to be established, rather than turning it into a direct confrontation with Morocco.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">S\u00e1nchez was less cautious, however, when it came to Moroccan statements concerning sovereignty.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">The debate therefore moved from the movement of migrants to the question of sovereignty.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ceuta and Melilla are not, in Spanish politics, simply two border points. Their status has for decades been one of the most sensitive issues in relations between Morocco and Spain. Any Moroccan statement concerning sovereignty over the two cities can quickly move beyond the official who made it and become a political issue in its own right inside Spain.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">It was in this context that S\u00e1nchez invited King Felipe VI to visit the two cities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">If it goes ahead, such a visit would carry an obvious symbolic weight. The last visit by a Spanish monarch to Ceuta and Melilla took place in November 2007, when King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofia travelled to both cities. The visit triggered a serious diplomatic crisis with Morocco at the time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">No Spanish monarch has repeated such a visit since.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">For S\u00e1nchez to invite Felipe VI today, following the July migration crisis and the summoning of the Moroccan ambassador, indicates that Madrid wants to reaffirm the presence of the Spanish state in the issue.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">It would nevertheless be difficult, on the basis of the available information alone, to conclude that the invitation necessarily signals an imminent visit or that it marks the beginning of another diplomatic confrontation with Rabat.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">The King has not announced, in the information presented by S\u00e1nchez, a date for such a visit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">The distinction between a political invitation and its actual implementation therefore matters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">Spain\u2019s policy towards Morocco in recent years has been based precisely on an attempt to reconcile security and economic interests with the management of political disputes, particularly those surrounding Ceuta and Melilla. The July crisis exposed that difficulty once again: Madrid needs Rabat\u2019s cooperation on migration, but it does not want that cooperation to appear to weaken its position regarding sovereignty over the two cities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">S\u00e1nchez\u2019s position before Parliament therefore points in two directions, without necessarily being contradictory.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">On migration, he did not officially accuse Morocco, because there was no strong evidence to support such an accusation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">On sovereignty, however, he raised the level of Spain\u2019s objection to statements by Moroccan officials, before bringing the Spanish monarchy itself into the picture by inviting Felipe VI to visit Ceuta and Melilla.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">As for what actually happened on July 30 and 31, the case still requires a distinction between established facts and the political narratives that emerged afterwards. A major migrant influx did take place. Deaths and disappearances were among the documented consequences of the crisis. Questions over the level of preparedness of the Moroccan authorities at the border also remain.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">But moving from those elements to the assertion that the operation was planned by Rabat requires evidence that S\u00e1nchez says his government does not have.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">That gives his parliamentary statement its most immediate significance. It does not end the controversy, but it officially sets aside the most serious accusation hanging over Morocco: that it planned the migration crisis.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">At the same time, S\u00e1nchez has not closed the Ceuta file.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">He has shifted its centre of gravity instead: from the question of who organized the migrant influx to a more directly political question for Spain \u2014 how Madrid should respond to Moroccan statements reaffirming Morocco\u2019s rights over the two cities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">The summoning of the ambassador was the first diplomatic response.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">The invitation to Felipe VI could become the next symbolic step, if it eventually turns into an actual visit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">For relations with Rabat, the balance therefore remains, for now, based on an attempt to keep the two files separate: migration cooperation on one side, and the dispute over Ceuta and Melilla on the other.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The question is how long that separation can hold as Madrid clarifies its response to the Moroccan statements, and as the invitation to Spain\u2019s King moves \u2014 or does not move \u2014 from the political sphere to an actual decision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Madrid \u2014 Pedro S\u00e1nchez did not accuse Morocco on Thursday, before the Spanish Congress of Deputies, of being behind the migration crisis that struck occupied Ceuta at the end of July. In fact, his statement pointed in the opposite direction. The Spanish prime minister said clearly that Madrid had no \u201cstrong evidence\u201d proving that Morocco [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4828,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,43,42,41,76],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-africa","category-asia-americas","category-europe-russia","category-middle-east","category-the-maghreb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4827"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4829,"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4827\/revisions\/4829"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}