Editor’s note: The following is an English translation of the column. For the original French version, click here.
The images reaching us from Ceuta (Sebta) carried the raw violence of truths we have refused, for far too long, to confront. Tens of thousands of migrants stormed the barriers of the Spanish enclave, defying exhaustion and death. A massacre was narrowly averted.
The first response is one of compassion in the face of such human suffering. But this human tsunami is not just another migration story, like so many others from Lampedusa to the Pas-de-Calais. It is a warning signal of seismic proportions. We must now fear the aftershocks and, one day, the Big One—in Ceuta or Melilla, or elsewhere. This desperate assault shows that, at the level of people, the social and human situation has become unbearable and that diplomatic patchwork will no longer be enough to seal the cracks in a world that is coming apart. The current status quo is no longer sustainable.
Beyond the immediate event lies a political problem. In the 21st century, the very existence of Ceuta and Melilla—relics of a colonial geography frozen in another age—is an anachronism. These Spanish enclaves on African soil, within the territory of a friendly country, no longer serve any purpose other than perpetuating permanent tensions between the two shores of the Mediterranean, even though both have every interest in building their future together.
Spain now faces a historical contradiction. Having confronted its Francoist past with lucidity, it must now complete its decolonization process with courage. Asserting sovereignty over these two cities on the basis of old maps no longer makes sense in 21st-century Europe. On the contrary, they have become zones of friction where the tragedies of irregular migration and trafficking of every kind converge.
What would Spaniards think if Morocco possessed two enclaves on Spanish territory—in Seville or Valencia—drawing thousands of migrants and traffickers? And if we take the reasoning one step further, the Tindouf region, where Sahrawi populations have lived for half a century, also appears as a geopolitical anomaly. Is it a Moroccan enclave, since the Sahrawis are officially Moroccan citizens? What would Algeria say if Morocco established camps on Algerian territory to host Kabyle refugees at odds with the central government?
These comparisons have only one purpose: to show that certain situations cannot endure forever.
«It is urgent to put an end to the absurd. Two joint commissions should be established. The first, bringing together Morocco and Spain, would be tasked with preparing the conditions for the gradual return of Ceuta and Melilla to their Moroccan geographical and historical continuity. The second, bringing together Morocco and Algeria, would organize the safe and dignified return of the Sahrawi populations from the Tindouf camps to their country, Morocco.»
— Boualem Sansal
Both processes should be accompanied by the international community to guarantee the security of the populations, safeguard acquired rights, and oversee the modalities of the transition. History shows that whenever political will exists, appropriate legal solutions can always be found.
Morocco and Spain today have an opportunity to transform a permanent source of tension into a shared project for the western Mediterranean. As for Algeria, sooner or later it will have to choose between the politics of deadlock and the path of regional reconciliation.
Reality struck in Ceuta. Tomorrow it will strike in Melilla, then in Tindouf. And it will strike Algiers just as it is striking Tunis today.
Statesmen have only one choice: either manage crises as they arise or take the decisions that History demands. The longer they wait, the more difficult those decisions will become.
