Spain urges king to visit Ceuta and Melilla

Spain's government has urged King Felipe VI to visit Ceuta and Melilla in the coming weeks, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Thursday, in rare public comments on royal matters.

The two Spanish territories in North Africa are diplomatically sensitive because Morocco claims them. A visit by a Spanish monarch to the cities in 2007 sparked a crisis with Rabat.

Sanchez told parliament that Ceuta, which has been in crisis since a migrant rush from Morocco in July, needed state support “more than ever”.

“For that very reason, the government has expressed the need that, after 20 years without a visit by a head of state to Ceuta and Melilla, the head of state visits these two Spanish cities in the coming weeks,” Sanchez said.