The biggest news in Spain this week is the onslaught (El Mundo graphic) on the North African Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla by thousands of African immigrants desperate to start a new life in Europe. Six were shot in the early hours of Thursday by Moroccan police who claim they fired in self-defence.
Spiegel reports that “Ceuta and Melilla are particularly attractive to migrants because Spanish law requires refugees to be released from detention after 40 days if they are unable to return to their country of origin. Since most African countries refuse to take them back, they are released into Spanish society”, and continues, “To keep the Africans from reaching Spain, Madrid now wants to build a third and even higher fence at Melilla.”
Evidently more fences are not going to make any difference and this is a situation that is only going to escalate. The problem is clearly related to appalling economic and political conditions in Africa, and what on earth can be done about that? More to the point, when are the powers that be going to start seriously trying to do something about that? Yes, happy G8 guys, that means you!
Notes from Spain by Ben Curtis 