Morocco and Spain reopened their land borders in the residential areas of Ceuta and Melilla at midnight Monday-Tuesday, AFP reported.
It has been two years since the borders were closed due to the outbreak of COVID-19 and the diplomatic crisis in relations between the two countries.
According to the AFP, the steel gates of the border crossing between Ceuta and Fnideq opened at 10pm GMT and dozens of vehicles passed through the Spanish side.
Currently, only European or Moroccan travelers with a Schengen visa can travel by land to the Spanish enclaves, while Moroccans who are legally employed and have not been allowed to continue their business since the borders closed. at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic will be able to return to the enclaves of Spain on May 31..
Moroccan media have denied that the opening of land borders would lead to the return of goods from two Spanish cities to Moroccan territory at cheap prices, a trade known as subsistence smuggling before it was stopped by Moroccan authorities. autumn 2019.
Although this commercial activity has been very popular for many years, it has deprived Moroccan traditions of income and has been criticized by human rights organizations for the stampede at border crossings in recent years, which has claimed lives. of many people.
Moroccan customs revenues have risen by about 4 billion dirhams (about $ 400 million) since this trade stopped, according to Moroccan media in December, but the decision has also pushed many people, especially in women, in unemployment.
To prevent this, Moroccan authorities announced that hundreds of these people were working in factories, as well as the establishment of an economic zone in the city of Fnideq, adjacent to Ceuta.
The reopening of the crossings is part of a roadmap to normalize relations between Rabat and Madrid, announced in early April on the occasion of the visit of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to Rabat.
The roadmap so far includes the resumption of cruises, cooperation in the fight against irregular migration and the transit of Moroccans living in Europe through the ports of the two countries over the next summer vacation.
The border crossings with Ceuta and Melilla were closed two years ago due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but remained closed after that in the context of the serious diplomatic crisis between Rabat and Madrid, but the two sides reached in a compromise agreement thanks to Madrid. In mid -March, he proposes to resolve this dispute with Moroccan support for the draft, changing his position in Western Sahara in favor of Rabat.
This compromise ended in a severe crisis that erupted when Madrid hosted Ibrahim Ghali, the leader of the Polisario, the front demanding the independence of Western Sahara, for treatment.
At the time, the crisis was exacerbated by the flow of approximately 10,000 migrants, mostly minors, to the enclave of Ceuta, taking advantage of poor control over Morocco’s border.
Source: AFP
Source: Arabic RT
