In Pictures

Now Syrians scale fence at Spain’s African ‘fortress’

On the Spanish-Moroccan border in Africa, refugees pay smugglers, bribe guards to cross into European enclave.

The six metre-high, triple-layered fence that surrounds the Spanish city of Melilla runs for 12 kilometres, separating it from Morocco. It is topped with barbed wire. [Jose Colon/MEMO/Al Jazeera]

30 Dec 2015

Melilla, Spain – It used to be mainly African migrants who would try to jump the fence into Melilla, the tiny Spanish enclave in the northeast of Morocco, as they sought passage to Europe through the Mediterranean port.

More recently they have been replaced by refugees from Syria, Iraq and other war-torn places – and there are hundreds of them.

In 2014, 6,000 asked for asylum in this Spanish enclave but in 2015 the number is expected to be higher.

At the end of their arduous journeys they arrive in the Moroccan city of Nador and face the six metre-high, triple-layered barbed-wire fences that surround Melilla, a “European fortress”.

To get to the other side they must pay smugglers who help them avoid police controls because Moroccan authorities prevent them crossing and reaching the asylum office where they can seek help.

Women, children and men wander along the border crossing in Beni Enzar, looking for the best deal to take them through. Often families are unable to cross together and are forced to separate, some falling victim to smugglers who hold them hostage to guarantee payment. Some refugees arrive in Melilla using fake Moroccan passports for which they pay large sums.

Working the border has become a lucrative business. Only those who can afford to pay a high price to the criminal networks will be able to cross.

Yet getting across the border is not the end of drama. Those who manage to enter Melilla arrive at a decrepit immigrant reception centre, the CETI. Here refugees are housed in a shelter designed for 660 adults, but which is houses 1,800 people, of whom 500 are children.

The refugees remain at CETI from one to four months. About 200 are transported to Malaga each Wednesday, as long as they can provide the correct paperwork.

Most plan to continue their journey onwards to northern Europe in search of a better life, conditions and peace.

Syrian refugees demanding to be allowed to depart towards the European peninsula sleep on the outskirts of the CETI immigrant shelter in protest. [Jose Colon/MEMO/Al Jazeera]

Syrian refugees wait in the asylum offices after crossing at Beni Enzar into Melilla. Organisations such as the UNHCR and Amnesty International have raised concerns about refugees stranded at the border for years. [Jose Colon/MEMO/Al Jazeera]

A young Syrian refugee compiles his asylum application with the help of a translator and a policewoman. Jon Inarritu, a Basque politician recently asked: 'What is the reason that Morocco is preventing the access to Syrian refugees to the asylum office of Melilla? Is there an agreement between the Kingdom of Spain and the Kingdom of Morocco in this respect?' [Jose Colon/MEMO/Al Jazeera]

An elderly Syrian refugee emerges from the Commercial Hospital of Melilla after being treated in its emergency room. He fell ill after crossing the border disguised as a Moroccan trader and spending the night outside the immigrant shelter because he didn't have any documentation. [Jose Colon/MEMO/Al Jazeera]

A young refugee leaves the CETI shelter to catch the ferry to Malaga. Most of refugees do not want to seek asylum in Spain because they are aware of the difficulties in finding work and a decent income there. [Jose Colon/MEMO/Al Jazeera]

Many refugee families end up getting separated during their journey. [Jose Colon/MEMO/Al Jazeera]

Some refugees can pay up to $2,000 to buy passports of Moroccans they resemble physically. This is because local Moroccans can enter Melilla without a visa. [Jose Colon/MEMO/Al Jazeera]

Spanish authorities refuse to consider sub-Saharan migrants as potential asylum seekers, although, as reported by UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, almost 60 percent of those who try to cross the fence come from conflict countries in Africa, such as Mali. [Jose Colon/MEMO/Al Jazeera]

Most young refugees try to avoid Moroccan border controls when crossing into Melilla in case they have to pay excessive bribes to the border guards. [Jose Colon/MEMO/Al Jazeera]

Sabha, 35, a refugee from Erbil, crossed into Melilla with two of her six children. 'All I want is to be with my husband and my children. I don't think about anything else,' she said. Her other four children are in Nador with her husband, Mohammed, on the Moroccan side of the fence. 'Moroccan police humiliates us. The only option we have is to pay,' she said. [Jose Colon/MEMO/Al Jazeera]

Baby Luay was born in Melilla, to Feras, a Syrian refugee, and Haalimah, from Morocco. 'This is not a way of living. The only thing we want is to be taken in for a while. And once the war is over, we will come back to Syria,' Feras said. [Jose Colon/MEMO/Al Jazeera]

Mohamed Fayad, is from Ramadi in Iraq. 'I have spent all my savings and nobody has helped us,' he said. Families, like Mohamed's, have been separated by the smugglers. [Jose Colon/MEMO/Al Jazeera]

Salima is 15 years old. She was able to enter Melilla, while the rest of her family remains stranded in Morocco. [Jose Colon/MEMO/Al Jazeera]

A young Syrian refugee walks towards the taxis that will take him to the boat for the crossing to Malaga. In Malaga the Red Cross, the Spanish Catholic Commission Association for Migration, or the Spanish Commission for Refugee Aid will provide refugees with humanitarian assistance. [Jose Colon/MEMO/Al Jazeera]

A group of asylum seekers from Syria take photographs at the port of Melilla before crossing to Malaga. Refugees are received by NGOs financed by the Spanish government, and taken from Malaga to the centres located in different parts of Spain. [Jose Colon/MEMO/Al Jazeera]

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