The Minister of Defence, Margarita Robles, has finished this Tuesday her mini-tour of the islets of Spanish sovereignty off the coast of Morocco with a visit to the Chafarinas Islands, historically disputed with the neighbouring country. In addition, early in the morning, Robles has met with some 130 soldiers who will leave for Iraq in November on a mission to support the international coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS) and who will remain in the country until May 2025.
This Monday and Tuesday was the first visit that Robles has made to these strategic territories for Spain, although it is the second this year to Melilla, where he was already last April. These rocks have the peculiarity of not belonging to Melilla, but directly to the ministry headed by Robles, which must ensure their maintenance and defense. But with one exception: immigration, a responsibility that in 2017 was transferred to the autonomous city. These territories have been used during the last decade – although in an isolated and residual way – as a way of entry into Spain for irregular migrants, but they have also been the object of sovereign claims by neighboring Morocco.
On her second day of travel, Robles visited Isabel II Island (in the Chafarinas archipelago), to see first-hand the work of the Legion detachment that guards the islet, located about 50 kilometers from Melilla. According to a note from the ministry, the military told her that for three years the area has been “very calm” and that no incidents have been recorded. “We do not forget those who are deployed here or the work they do, which is essential for the security of our territory, even more so at a complicated time like the current one,” the minister said on Tuesday.
This is an area of great importance for the interests of Spain. It so happens that on July 28, after a month with an increase in arrivals of irregular migrants from Morocco, the maritime action vessel (BAM) of the Navy Ray left the Canary Islands heading for this area – the Strait of Gibraltar and the Alboran Sea – with the mission of monitoring and deterring irregular immigration to Spain and the European Union. Despite the fact that Ray Robles has not yet embarked on the patrol, but he has visited the patrol boat Pinto Island, which has had a permanent base in the autonomous city since January.
The small rock of Vélez de la Gomera, with a surface area of two hectares, was Robles’ first stop on Monday at midday. The territory, which has belonged to Spain since the 16th century, according to the Ministry of Defence, is linked to Morocco by a strip of sand about 85 metres wide, making it one of the smallest borders in the world, although of great strategic importance. In 2021, some 125 people arrived in Vélez de la Gomera, where the Army is permanently present, illegally and were immediately returned to Morocco. Years earlier, in 2012, members of the Coordination Committee for the Liberation of Ceuta and Melilla climbed this same rock and placed Moroccan flags.
On Monday, the minister visited the fifty or so soldiers who live and work in Vélez de la Gomera and also the rock of Alhucemas. “I know that it is an important effort to be here and I thank them on behalf of everyone. It is a very advanced presence of Spain, and a very beautiful place,” said Robles. On Tuesday she did the same in Chafarinas, where the Spanish detachment is larger. On the island of Isabel II there are also personnel from the university and the autonomous body of national parks that are in charge of the study and conservation of the marine and terrestrial ecosystem.
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Support for Iraq
On Tuesday, Robles also took a break from her route through the Rocks to meet in Melilla with the 130 soldiers who will be deployed to Iraq in November on a mission to support the international coalition against the Islamic State. “The Spanish soldiers are highly regarded not only for their professionalism but also for their closeness and personal approach,” the minister told them, after attending a training exercise for this mission.
More than 130 uniformed personnel are part of the contingent that will travel in November to carry out security maintenance tasks and provide advice and training to the Iraqi Armed Forces. They are scheduled to return in May 2025.
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