Spanish Enclave of Ceuta Reopens Border Checkpoint for Moroccan Vendors

Spain has reopened goods transit across the Moroccan border through the Tarajal checkpoint in its autonomous city of Ceuta in North Africa, after hundreds of migrants tried to break through the border, the government's representative office in the enclave told Sputnik Thursday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Cross-border transit in Ceuta was suspended on August 9 after hundreds of undocumented migrants attempted to trespass the border seeking to get to Spain.

The Tarajal checkpoint is a major transit route for Moroccan vendors, primarily women. On Wednesday and Thursday, over a thousand people have already crossed the border in Tarajal. A line of cars is waiting to pass through the border to deliver their stock to market of the Spanish city.

On August 7, a total of 187 undocumented migrants stormed the border in Ceuta. The following day, another group of 700 migrants also attempted to trespass the frontier, but Moroccan border guards curbed the breakthrough. Since then, the situation near the border has been tense, with crowds of would-be migrants rallying near the checkpoint waiting for the gates to be opened.

Ceuta is a Spanish autonomous city in North Africa, sharing a four-mile-long border with Morocco. Rabat has repeatedly called on Madrid to transfer the sovereignty over Ceuta and the neighboring city of Melilla. The residents of the city insist the territories should remain part of Spain.