EU and Spanish officials in Rabat after Melilla tragedy

European and Spanish officials met Friday, July 8 in Rabat with the Moroccan Minister of the Interior after the tragedy in Melilla which cost the lives of at least 23 African migrants who tried at the end of June to enter this Spanish enclave in northern Morocco.

European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson and Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska were received at the end of the morning by Minister Abdelouafi Laftit, according to official sources.

'Excessive use of force'

This whirlwind visit comes following the attempt by force of some 2,000 irregular migrants, mostly Sudanese, on June 24 to Melilla from Moroccan territory.

The attempt killed 23 migrants, according to the Moroccan authorities, "

", according to NGOs, as well as dozens of injured (140 in the ranks of Moroccan police).

This human toll is the heaviest ever recorded at the borders between Morocco and Ceuta and Melilla, the only EU borders on the African continent.

It triggered international outrage, and both the UN and the African Union (AU) denounced "

" and called for the opening of an immediate investigation, calls supported by the EU.

Two investigations are already underway in Spain.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has pledged his government's "

" with the investigations and castigated the mafias that traffic in human beings.

Read alsoMorocco behind the migratory onslaught of Melilla, Spanish enclave in Africa?

In Morocco, an information mission was launched by the National Human Rights Council (CNDH), an official body, and 65 migrants are being prosecuted, in particular for “

”.

While Morocco criticized a premeditated act of "

" by illegal immigrants and Algeria's "

" in border control with Morocco, human rights NGOs denounced "

".