Pedro Sánchez confirms that Moroccan vessels entered Spanish waters during the refugee crisis in Ceuta

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez confirmed that the Spanish Navy had sent a frigate to stop incursions by Moroccan warships into waters under Spanish sovereignty, near Ceuta. He made the statement during an informal conversation with journalists at a reception held for National Day.

According to the daily El País, Moroccan vessels entered Spanish waters without authorization on July 30 and 31, at the same time as the mass arrival of migrants in Ceuta. The incursion prompted the deployment of a Spanish vessel from the maritime action force, which docked in the city on August 3. The area was subsequently reinforced with the frigate Santa Maria, later replaced by the frigate Navarra due to a malfunction.

Sources cited by the Spanish publication claim that the violation was intentional and that the Moroccan vessels continued their maneuvers in the first days of August. Tensions allegedly rose to the point where the Moroccan vessels nearly caused a collision with Spanish patrol boats.

Sánchez described that period as “very intense and very difficult” and said there had been high-level interaction between the armed forces of the two countries, without explaining the reason for the incursions. The incident took place against the backdrop of Ceuta’s most serious recent migration crisis, during which tens of thousands of people entered illegally from Morocco; in the following days, deaths were reported and bodies were recovered from the sea.