Ceuta
Ceuta is a Spanish Autonomous City that is located in the North Coast of Africa and is bordered by Morocco. The official language of Ceuta is Spanish, but 40-50% of the population who are of Moroccan origin speaks Darija Arabic.
The Strait of Gibraltar separates Ceuta by 17 kilometres from the Spanish province of Cádiz. The Ceuta peninsula has been declared as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International as this site is important from the migratory perspectives of birds flying to and fro from Europe to Africa. The climate of Ceuta is heavily influenced by the Mediterranean Climate and has mild winters and warm summers.
Ceuta is sub-divided into 63 neighbourhoods also known as barriadas. Ceuta is accessed from Spain through the usage of ferries and a single road border checkpoint exists to travel between Ceuta and Morocco. The nearest airport of Ceuta is the Sania Ramel Airport situated in Morocco. As it is an autonomous city under Spain and a member of the European Union, the official currency of Ceuta is Euro is classified as a special low tax zone in Spain. The economy of Ceuta mainly depends on its port and its industrial centres.
Due to Ceuta being closer to Africa and sharing a border with Morocco, it attracts a lot of migrants who try to enter Ceuta to gain access to Europe. To stop this Spain has constructed a border fence so as to prevent smuggling and to stop migrants from entering Europe illegally. Also a number of guards and patrol boats have been deployed to check the coast of Ceuta.
Dispute with Morocco
The Moroccan Government repeatedly asks Spain to hand over Ceuta and Melilla (another autonomous city of Spain) which has been rejected by the Spanish government as well as the local populations of both the cities. In 2020, Moroccan Prime Minister Saadeddine Othmani claimed Ceuta and Melilla to be parts of Morocco which garnered massive criticism from the Spanish Government.
In the month of May, 2021 Ceuta witnessed thousands of migrants trying to enter Ceuta by climbing over the border fence as well as swimming across from Morocco. Spanish police have apprehended most of them and a majority part of the migrants have been sent back to Morocco. The migrant rush started on Monday, 17th May after Morocco seemed to ease border controls, and the Spanish Government has retaliated that this was planned by Morocco to retaliate against Spain’s decision to admit Brahim Ghali, a Western Sahara rebel leader in a hospital in Madrid.
