Spain rejects Moroccan map that includes border cities Ceuta, Melilla

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
23 Aug 2023 19:53

The secretary general of Melilla's PSOE party Gloria Rojas claims that “Melilla and Ceuta are and always will be an indissoluble part of the Spanish nation."

A view of the border fence that separates the Spanish enclave of Ceuta and Morocco (AP)

The Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE/S&D) pertaining to Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez rejected the recent official map published by the Moroccan embassy in Madrid of Morocco’s territory that includes the autonomous border cities and two migration hotspots of Ceuta and Melilla, prompting Melilla's regional President to demand that Spain launch a formal protest with Morocco.

Melilla's PSOE branch expressed “total rejection”, while the regional President Juan Jose Imbroda of the center-right Partido Popular (PP/EPP), the main opposition force in the country, demanded that Spain start a “formal complaint” as it “is a total affront to our nation, to our Constitution, to our history and sovereignty."

Imbroda urged the executive of Prime Minister Sanchez to submit “a formal and severe protest” to Karima Benyaich, the Moroccan Ambassador in Madrid.

He stressed, “It seems to me to be an enormous absurdity, but it seems worse to me that our authorities, our national government representatives, have not opened their mouths” after this “interference and meddling,” as cited by the regional newspaper Melilla Hoy.

Tensions between the two countries began to thaw earlier this year after Spain backed Morocco’s plan to grant more autonomy to Western Sahara, where activists are seeking full independence.

He relayed that the people of Melilla felt “deeply and proudly Spanish” for almost 526 years, before “Morocco was born, politically speaking" with its independence from France in 1956.

The secretary general of Melilla's PSOE Gloria Rojas said, “Melilla and Ceuta are and always will be an indissoluble part of the Spanish nation."

As quoted by El Faro de Melilla, Rojas expressed, “It is intolerable that anyone, either inside or outside our borders, should question our Spanishness, and we will not tolerate it (the leaders of the PSOE) demonstrate this with words and deeds," as she recalled that Sanchez "makes it very clear every time he states that Melilla and Ceuta are Spain, full stop (…) they are and always will be, just like Gijón, Toledo or Málaga.'

“It is under (PSOE) governments that the most have been invested in both cities and when more policies and measures have been implemented to guarantee the quality of life of citizens and the present and future of our cities," Rojas said.