A Moroccan committee campaigning for the return of Ceuta, Melilla and nearby islands held a meeting in northern Morocco on Thursday to discuss Spain’s announcement that King Felipe VI plans to visit the two Spanish-administered territories.
Spain has announced the planned visit without specifying a date, prompting the Committee for the Liberation of Ceuta, Melilla and their affiliated islands to convene a meeting in Al Hoceima.
Committee President Yahya Yahya told Hespress AR that the meeting was attended by dozens of people, including eight prominent activists from Ceuta and 15 from Melilla.
The meeting lasted several hours into the night, Yahya said, and focused on what he described as preparations for activities in Ceuta and Melilla and in nearby Moroccan provinces and prefectures.
He declined to disclose the nature of the decisions reached, saying participants had agreed to keep the meeting’s conclusions confidential until what they consider an appropriate time.
The meeting also addressed humanitarian and political issues, including the death of a Moroccan man in Ceuta who, according to the committee, had been unable to obtain needed medication. Participants also condemned the tearing of the Moroccan flag during a recent protest in Spain.
The meeting followed remarks by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to parliament concerning Morocco’s description of Ceuta and Melilla as occupied cities. Sánchez said Spain had conveyed its protest over the remarks through the Moroccan Embassy.
Yahya argued that a period of rapprochement between Rabat and Madrid in recent years had led some in Spain to underestimate Morocco’s longstanding claims concerning Ceuta, Melilla and nearby islands.
He said a decline in public protests did not mean the issue had disappeared, but rather that it had moved from the forefront of political debate into a dormant phase that could re-emerge.
Yahya also pointed to what he described as the continued inclusion of Ceuta and Melilla as occupied territories in Moroccan royal speeches. He said Morocco’s position on the two cities remained part of its broader claim to sovereignty over what it considers its national territory.
The planned visit by Felipe VI has revived comparisons with 2007, when his father, King Juan Carlos I, visited Ceuta and Melilla. That visit triggered strong protests in Morocco, with Yahya emerging as one of the most prominent figures opposing the trip.
Nearly two decades later, the possibility of a similar visit has again raised tensions over the disputed territories.
Yahya said the committee was continuing to establish contact with additional supporters, particularly people inside Ceuta and Melilla who he said feared reprisals from Spanish authorities because of their identification with Morocco.
He said some of those contacts were being maintained remotely through instant-messaging applications rather than through in-person meetings.
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