The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Morocco, Naser Burita, conveyed this Thursday to his Spanish counterpart, José Manuel Albares, that Rabat maintains its willingness to cooperate closely with Spain for the return "as soon as possible" of the thousands of migrants who accessed Ceuta at the end of July and who are still in the autonomous city.
According to sources from the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the meeting between Albares and Burita took place on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, where "they addressed the return of irregular migrants who have been in Ceuta since July 30 and who do not have the right to international protection."
According to these sources, Burita insisted on Morocco's "full cooperation" "in order for them to return as soon as possible," in line with the position expressed by Rabat since the entries occurred and as already stated in its statement from September 10.
In that text, the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs questioned why the return of those who crossed irregularly on July 30 and 31 had not yet taken place, despite Rabat having "officially committed to readmitting them," and also criticized that unaccompanied minors remained separated from their families.
During the meeting in New York, Albares also reiterated that Spain "wants to maintain a good relationship with Morocco based on respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the principles of the joint declaration of 2022," according to the same diplomatic sources.
The head of Spanish diplomacy thus emphasized the message he has been conveying after the recent statements by two Moroccan ministers regarding the sovereignty of Ceuta and Melilla, referring to the 'roadmap' that opened a new phase in bilateral relations after the crisis generated by the reception in Spain of the leader of the Polisario, Brahim Ghali.
In this same vein, and already this week in New York, where he coincided with Burita in several forums before their formal meeting on Thursday, Albares had made it abundantly clear that Spain does not contemplate any type of negotiation over its territory: "Spain does not talk with Morocco or anyone about its territorial integrity which of course includes Ceuta and Melilla," he emphasized in an interview.