The Diplomat
The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, met yesterday in Madrid with his Moroccan counterpart, Abdelouafi Laftit, with whom he discussed the fight against human trafficking, the opening of the borders in Ceuta and Melilla and Operation Crossing the Strait.
This is the tenth bilateral meeting between the Minister of the Interior and Laftit. The last one took place last March 29 in Dubai (United Arab Emirates), in the margins of the fourth Ministerial Meeting of the International Security Alliance.
During yesterday’s meeting, according to the Ministry, Grande-Marlaska highlighted “the daily joint work” between the Security Forces of the two countries in areas such as the fight against human trafficking mafias or operations against drug trafficking and terrorism. He also thanked “the excellent work carried out jointly by the security forces of Morocco and Spain” in the management of migratory flows and affirmed that “the exchange of operational information is key to the prevention of the fight against irregular immigration and in the dismantling of criminal organizations dedicated to the trafficking of migrants”.
Both ministers also addressed the process of normalization of transit at the land border between the two countries, which began last May 17 with the reopening of the Beni Enzar crossing in Melilla and the Tarajal crossing in Ceuta, thanks to the “bilateral work carried out between the Spanish and Moroccan authorities in the framework of the roadmap agreed after the meeting held by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the King of Morocco, Mohamed IV”, said the Ministry.
The meeting also discussed the Operation Crossing the Strait (OPE, for its acronym in Spanish), which started yesterday after two years suspended due to the pandemic and which will facilitate the transit through Spain of more than three million North Africans from Europe to their place of origin during the summer. According to Interior, about 16,000 agents of the Security Forces and Corps will participate until September 15 in the thirty-third edition of the OPE.
The Ministry of the Interior coordinates the Special Plan, in which also participate Ports of the State and the General Directorate of the Merchant Marine -belonging to the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda-, the General Directorate of Public Health of the Ministry of Health and the Red Cross, among other institutions. In total, the special device counts on the participation of more than 22,000 professionals.
According to the Ministry, Spain and Morocco have collaborated closely during the last two months to prepare for Operation Crossing the Strait with bilateral conversations and meetings between the technical teams of the bodies involved in the operation. The undersecretary of the Ministry of the Interior, Isabel Goicoechea, and the director of Migration and Border Surveillance of Morocco, Khalid Zerouali, chaired last May 5 in Rabat the meeting of the Spanish-Moroccan Joint Commission to finalize the preparations for the OPE 2022. The plan designed includes the necessary measures for the development of the Operation with the objectives of guaranteeing the fluidity and safety in transit, as well as the prevention and protection of public health, with special attention to the sanitary controls derived from the COVID-19.
