Migrants depart Spain's North Africa enclave as EU tightens borders

Almost all of the tens of thousands of migrants who entered Spain's enclave of Ceuta in North Africa had left by Saturday, officials said, as some EU countries bolstered border controls over the sudden influx.

Some 60,000 migrants had entered Ceuta from Morocco over just a few days.

How many migrants have left Ceuta after the border crossing?

Spain's interior ministry said more than 48,000 of the roughly 60,000 migrants who crossed had already returned to Morocco by Friday evening, enclave president Juan Jesus Vivas told reporters. Under the watch of Spanish soldiers and police on Saturday morning, the remaining young migrants continued crossing back over the border, AFP journalists saw.

Any migrants who lingered too long on the coastal path were immediately ushered back out by the soldiers. To reach Ceuta, many had swum around a small border barrier jutting into the Mediterranean, and at least 34 people died in the attempt.

"We hope to go to Europe to work and earn a living. That's it," Souleil Boyan, 19, a Senegalese migrant, told AFP outside a migrant centre in Ceuta where dozens of other sub-Saharan African migrants waited for officials. "We all know that in Africa there isn't much opportunity," he said. The sudden influx had sparked political panic across Europe.

Why are EU countries tightening their border controls?

France tightened checks on its border with Spain and said it would increase its police presence there fivefold, to 334 officers and gendarmes, by Saturday. Italy suspended its Schengen agreement with Spain, ending visa-free movement between the two countries for one month starting Saturday.

Several European countries suggested Spain's Schengen membership should face suspension, though Spain's foreign minister said the zone's integrity remained "guaranteed." Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, in a letter to the heads of the European Commission and European Council, criticized what he called the "selfish" reaction from some EU countries and called for a video meeting of the bloc's interior ministers.

Madrid has already sent troops, police, drones, divers and boats to the North African outpost it has run for centuries. Spain's interior ministry said a new pneumatic barrier 500 meters long was installed near the border post to reinforce security.

What is the situation on the ground in Ceuta now?

AFP journalists observed groups of young people wandering Ceuta's beaches and streets overnight into Saturday, with dozens of men sleeping on the sand. At the border, some were seen turning back, saying goodbye to officers before crossing to Morocco, while more soldiers stood guard on the beach near the border fence.

Buoys and flippers still littered the ground along the fence, remnants of the initial surge of people who swam past the border post, while others floated in the water. Nearby, an inflatable boat carrying security personnel patrolled through thick fog.

Why are people leaving Morocco to reach Spain?

In Morocco, Soufian, 42, told AFP he had been planning to swim from his coastal town of Martil, less than 40 kilometers from Ceuta, when a friend told him the border was open. He said the crossing took just three to five minutes since it happened right at the border.

He said he was motivated by wanting to visit his ill mother, who lives in Madrid. "Even though there's no food, nothing at all, I'll endure anything to see my mother," Soufian said, adding that he earns just 10 euros a day working 12-hour shifts as a security guard. Of the other migrants who crossed, he said everyone wants a good future, something he said does not exist in Morocco.

What sparked the flow of migrants remains unclear, and Morocco's authorities have not yet issued an official statement on it. Ceuta, an 18.5 square kilometer territory, and the nearby enclave of Melilla are Europe's only two land borders with Africa. Previous surges have occurred during tensions between Spain and Morocco, including in 2021 when more than 10,000 migrants entered Ceuta in just two days.