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 their border controls over the sudden influx.
News
An estimated 60,000 migrants entered Ceuta over just a few days from neighbouring Morocco, the enclave’s regional president Juan Jesus Vivas told reporters, but by Saturday Spain’s interior minister said almost all had left.
“The situation has been almost entirely reversed,” Fernando Grande-Marlaska told reporters.
Under the watch of Spanish soldiers and police on Saturday morning, the remaining young migrants continued crossing back over the border to Morocco, AFP journalists saw.
Details
Any who lingered too long on the coastal path were immediately ushered back out by the soldiers.
To cross into Ceuta, many swam around a small border barrier that juts out into the Mediterranean.
At least 67 people died in the attempt, said Grande-Marlaska providing updated figures Saturday.
Analysis
“We hope to go to Europe to work and earn a living. That’s it,” Souleye Bodian, 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 of migrants had sparked political panic in Europe.
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