Polisario Front – Eye on Islamism

Spain confronts growing terror threat tied to Polisario Front Calls are growing in some quarters for Spain and its European partners to officially recognize the Polisario Front as a terrorist organization.

June 8, 2025 Firdaous Naim

(Morocco World News) Spanish intelligence services are raising alarms over a mounting terrorist threat linked to the Polisario Front, as extremist factions in the Sahel expand their operations and deepen ties to radicalized individuals with European connections. At the heart of the […]

Spain arrests two Tindouf-origin Sahrawis on terrorism charges The arrest comes amid growing concerns over the possible radicalization within the camps.

June 7, 2025 Asmae Daoudi

(Morocco World News) Spanish police in the Basque Country arrested two young Sahrawis originally from the Tindouf camps on Wednesday in the Álava region. The individuals are facing charges of “collaboration with jihadist organizations” and “glorification of terrorism,” according to converging reports. […]

France-Algeria tensions put Paris Grand Mosque’s ‘iftar for ambassadors’ in spotlight French officials and media have been concerned about ties between the mosque and Algeria amid a flaring crisis between the two countries.

March 17, 2025 Safaa Kasraoui

(Morocco World News) The upcoming high-level Ramadan iftar ceremony at the Grand Mosque of Paris is attracting a dramatic turn of events as the media is suspecting further tensions between Algeria and France. French news agency Agence France-Presse said the rift between […]

France threatens to review Algeria migration pact in row over deportations

February 26, 2025 Geert De Clercq

(Reuters) France said on Wednesday it would review a decades-old agreement that makes it easier for Algerian citizens to move to France unless Algeria agrees to take back those who are deported by the French authorities. Already strained ties between Paris and […]

France arrests new Algerian influencer as tensions soar

January 22, 2025 Nicholas McAnally

(AFP) French authorities Wednesday arrested another Algerian social media influencer as tensions soar between Paris and its North African former colony, the interior minister announced, in a statement that earned him a rare rebuke from Paris prosecutors. Rafik M. had “called on […]

France holds Algerian influencers on charges of urging violence

January 5, 2025 Unlisted Author

(AFP) French authorities on Sunday held three Algerians suspected of inciting violence in TikTok videos, with at least two of them facing terror-related charges. The arrests come amid growing political tensions between Paris and its former North African colony. A video blogger […]

Morocco: 18 migrants dead in stampede to enter Melilla

June 24, 2022 Ciarán Giles and Tarik El Barakah

(AP) Eighteen Africans seeking to cross into Spain were killed and scores of migrants and police were injured in what Moroccan authorities called a “stampede” of people surging across Morocco’s border fence with the Spanish North African enclave of Melilla on Friday. […]

Spanish rights groups denounce child deportations to Morocco

August 14, 2021 Unlisted Author

(AP) Human rights groups on Saturday denounced Spain’s expulsion of unaccompanied children to Morocco, calling the deportations illegal and urging an immediate halt to the process. Amnesty International spokesman Ángel Gonzalo said the deportations of minors began Friday and continued Saturday. The […]

Spain starts returning Moroccan minors after Ceuta migration crisis

August 13, 2021 Andrei Khalip

(Reuters) Spain on Friday started sending hundreds of Moroccan youths, who in May crossed into its North African enclave of Ceuta, back to Morocco after reaching an agreement with Rabat, Spanish media reported, signalling an improvement in ties after a long row. […]

Over 230 migrants enter Spain’s Melilla enclave

July 22, 2021 Unlisted Author

(AFP) More than 230 migrants crossed the Moroccan border into Spain’s Melilla enclave before dawn on Thursday, in one of the largest influxes into this tiny North African territory in recent years. The incident occurred two months after an unprecedented 10,000 people […]

Spain returns 6,600 to Morocco, families look for loved ones

May 21, 2021 Renata Brito and Bernat Armangué

(AP) Officials in Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in North Africa, faced complications Friday in reuniting worried Moroccan parents with hundreds of children and teenagers swept up in a diplomatic standoff between Madrid and Rabat over migration and the disputed territory of Western […]

Spain’s migrant drama highlights EU outsourcing policy flaws

May 20, 2021 Lorne Cook

(AP) The sight of hundreds of migrants swimming or climbing fences separating the Spanish enclave of Ceuta from the rest of Africa this week is a stark reminder of just how dependent the European Union can be on the whims of countries […]

Clashes on Morocco border as Madrid accuses Rabat of ‘blackmail’

May 20, 2021 Ismail Bellaouali and Hazel Ward

(AFP) Spain accused Morocco of “blackmail” on Thursday for allowing a record 8,000 migrants to reach the Spanish North African enclave of Ceuta, sparking a crisis that saw clashes on the Moroccan side of the border overnight. Spanish authorities were caught by […]

Europe or ‘death’ for Moroccans scrambling into Spanish enclave

May 18, 2021 Unlisted Author

(AFP) Exhausted and ashen-faced, Moroccan teenager Amal waited all night to join thousands who dream of reaching Europe through a tiny Spanish enclave on North Africa’s Mediterranean coast. “We know it’s an adventure but death doesn’t scare me. It’s dying poor, here, […]

Spain, Morocco square off after 8,000 migrants arrive by sea

May 18, 2021 Renata Brito and Aritz Parra

(AP) Spain deployed its military to the Moroccan border Tuesday and expelled nearly half of the thousands of migrants who jumped fences or swam onto European soil over two days after Rabat loosened border controls amid a deepening diplomatic spat. Overwhelmed soldiers […]

Record 2,700 migrants reach Spain’s Ceuta enclave in one day

May 17, 2021 Unlisted Author

(AFP) At least 2,700 migrants, some 1,000 of them minors, reached Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta on Monday, Spanish officials said, a record in a single day. A spokesman for the Spanish government delegation in Ceuta said the numbers arriving Monday […]