From the Berlin Wall to Ceuta and Melilla

Spain's announcement that it plans to build a third fence to separate its enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla from Morocco, using the most advanced technology aimed at keeping out undocumented immigrants, has drawn loud criticism while giving rise to many questions.

The most frequent is whether the new measures designed to dissuade desperately poor people from sub-Saharan Africa from attempting to enter Europe, even at the risk of their lives, will be effective. For many, the answer is no.

The most recent European precedent was the 155-km Berlin Wall, built in 1961 to separate West Berlin from the former East Germany in the East European communist bloc. By the time it was finally torn down in 1989, 267 people had been shot to death in their attempts to get over the wall into West Berlin, while thousands successfully made it across.

Today, Israel is also building a wall, on the West Bank, to keep out Palestinians. And the U.S. has built high fences and walls along its border with Mexico, where security has been steadily beefed up over the past decade.

But none of these barriers has proven to be extremely effective. Nor are there signs that the third fence to be built around the Spanish cities of Melilla and Ceuta in northern Morocco on the Mediterranean sea will keep out would-be immigrants intent on entering the European Union at any cost.

The Spanish government headed by Socialist Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero announced this week that it would build a third perimeter fence and otherwise heighten security in response to the recent wave of migrants who have been storming the twin razor wire-topped fences built on the orders of the previous prime minister, the centre-right José María Aznar.

In their bids to climb over the two fences and get by members of the security forces equipped in riot gear, 13 would-be migrants have been killed and dozens injured over the past month by rubber bullets or beatings, or by falling off the three-metre fences. Police officers were also injured in their attempt to keep the immigrants from crossing.

Besides the criticism from non-governmental organisations (NGOs), dissonant voices have been heard within the European Commission, the EU executive arm.

EU Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security Franco Frattini, who is the vice-president of the European Commission, said "Europe cannot become a fortress" and "must do all it can to avoid sending this kind of negative message" to other countries. He also said measures like building higher and higher fences will not resolve the problem of unwanted immigration.

Asked Tuesday in a news briefing in Brussels about the third fence to be built around Ceuta and Melilla, he responded that it would unfortunately be the first such "wall" built in Europe since the fall of the Berlin Wall, and in the wake of European criticism of the Israeli wall.

But there are several problems involved in the Spain-Morocco border question.

On one hand is the plight of poor immigrants from sub-Saharan African countries who are desperate to enter Europe in order to send hard-earned remittances to their families back home.

On the other are the poor relations between countries of North Africa, such as the decades-long dispute over territory in the Western Sahara between Morocco and Algeria, which backs the Polisario Front, the independence movement fighting Morocco for control over the area.

Spain is also a reluctant player in the conflict, because the Western Sahara was a Spanish colony until 1975, when Spain pulled out and the area was occupied by Morocco.

In addition, Morocco lays claim to Ceuta and Melilla, which Spain considers its own territory because the two cities have been under its sovereignty since 1497 and 1580, respectively, prior to the existence of the kingdom of Morocco.

To Spain's demands that Morocco take measures to prevent migrant