Spain’s African toehold ‘under siege’
From the battlements of one of its forts, the Spanish territory of Melilla appears besieged: its back to the sea, surrounded by Moroccan mountains and corralled by a border fence.
For centuries, the mountains were the scene of battles between tribal warriors and Spanish forces. The threat of invasion now seems far-fetched but Melilla is, in a sense, still under siege.
These days, the six-metre barriers are patrolled by guards watching for attempts by illegal immigrants to cross into Europe. Officials say Melilla and its sister enclave Ceuta, 400 kilometres to the west, which have Europe’s only land borders with Africa, are also vulnerable to the whims of the government in Rabat.
Yet Madrid stays silent about the territories’ plight, despite questions over their future. In Melilla – the smaller of the two, at just 12 square km – some leaders fear that it is in danger of dying economically and losing its character.
Of primary concern has been what officials call Morocco’s ‘‘asphyxiation’’ of Melilla, after Rabat closed off the formal trade of Spanish goods a year ago.
‘‘The Moroccans did this without warning,’’ said Andres Cabrero, a businessman whose firm has suffered. ‘‘What’s worse is that Madrid is doing nothing.’’
Officials, who declined to speak on the record, believe that Rabat is blocking trade to help develop its own ports and keep up diplomatic pressure on Madrid over the territories, which Morocco describes as ‘‘anachronistically colonial’’.
Just as Gibraltar remains a sticking point between Spain and Britain, so the enclaves remain a divisive issue between Rabat and Madrid.
Morocco accuses Madrid of double standards, asking why Spain should pursue its own sovereignty claims over Gibraltar but refuse to discuss Rabat’s over Melilla.
Spanish authorities dismiss this idea, arguing that Spain ceded Gibraltar to Britain under duress in 1713, while Spain’s Catholic monarchs ordered Melilla’s capture from the Sultan of Fez in 1497 – when Morocco did not exist.
In recent months, tensions have increased. The Moroccan government has shut down informal trade across the border at Ceuta and pledged to do the same at Melilla.
Up to 20,000 poor Moroccan ‘‘porters’’ pass over the Melilla border each day to pick up goods, ranging from old clothes to electrical appliances. One of them, Youssra Tirari, 20, voiced fears that the untaxed informal trade with Spanish businesses would soon stop.
‘‘People are very worried because there are no jobs in Morocco and we don’t know how we will feed our families,‘‘ she said.
But it is not just external forces that are seen to threaten the old Melilla: its decreasing military garrison and the loss of its free port status when Spain entered the European Union in 1986 have also transformed it from an international outpost to a parochial backwater. – The Times