Reuters TV footage showed some migrants begging Spanish soliders not to take them back to Morocco as Red Cross members and police assisted exhausted and dehydrated migrants. A sudden influx of migrants swimming into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in northern Africa is a serious crisis for Europe, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Tuesday (May 18), although Spain and Morocco both gave signs of seeking to defuse a tense situation. A Reuters reporter on the ground said the number of arrivals by sea had slowed, and a number of those who had arrived were voluntarily returning to Morocco. Spain said approximately 2,700 migrants had already been sent back to Morocco, where they were being accepted under a readmission deal.

Source: The North Africa Journal May 20, 2021 15:16 UTC