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"Three died on the Moroccan side of the border and two on the Spanish side," Spain's Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega told reporters at a Moroccan-Spanish summit. Two were killed on the Spanish side, from suffocation or from being crushed in the stampede when around 500 people stormed the metal barrier separating the two countries early on Thursday. Twenty eight were injured. Two off the three died on the Moroccan side shot by rubber bullets. Fifteen were injured on this side. The bodies of the dead were taken to a hospital in the northern Moroccan city of Tetouan. Spain's other North African enclave, Melilla, has seen numerous mass attempts by would-be immigrants to storm across the border fence from Morocco in recent weeks. Bilateral summit The European Commission lamented the "tragic" deadly unrest on the Spain-Morocco border, but said it underlines the need for the EU to strengthen legal immigration channels. "This tragedy, once again, bears witness to the urgent need for a genuine and effective management of migration issues," said EU justice and home affairs commissioner Franco Frattini. He said the EU's strategy should be "hinged on a clear consolidation of legal immigration channels and of the situation of legal immigrants, as well as an effective asylum system." The issue of immigration will be high on the agenda at a bilateral Spanish-Moroccan summit that begins later on Thursday in the southern Spanish city of Seville.
The summit between the two leaders in the southern Spanish city of Seville was set to address joint efforts to contain illegal immigration, as well as the situation in the former Spanish colony of Western Sahara. Spanish border guards have been called on to repel immigrants' attempts to scale the fortified border-crossing with makeshift wooden ladders and human-rights group have complained about the use of excessive force. Spain decided earlier this month to double the height of the chain-link fence around Melilla from three to six metres along its entire 6km length. Debate revived Earlier this week, Spanish secretary of state for immigration, Consuelo Rumi, praised Morocco for its efforts to stem the flow of illegal immigrants, which she said had helped to reduce by a third the number of makeshift vessels intercepted last year off the Spanish coast.
The North African country is a transit point for sub-Saharan Africans hoping for access to Europe, but Morocco considers that EU states do too little to help it manage the problem. Rabat would like to see Spain and the European Union conclude agreements which would see refused immigrants repatriated directly to their country of origin. Morocco and Spain are also likely to insist that all countries have a responsibility in fighting illegal immigration at its source: a lack of economic opportunities in many poor countries that can only be solved through development. © 2005 Wire |
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ive people have died and dozens injured after hundreds of would-be immigrants stormed a border crossing between Morocco and Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta.
