"Innocent passage" is what is called in Maritime Law the crossing of a vessel from another country over the territorial waters of a coastal State. Morocco frequently clings to this legal figure, regulated by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, to appear in the waters of Ceuta and Melilla. Until last July 30, Spain's attitude was one of caution, vigilant but without acting. However, since the Royal Navy's flagship was involved in an altercation with the Spanish Navy on the last two days of July, the protocols have changed.
Although the activity of Moroccan ships has decreased significantly after July and in the last 10 days no movements have been recorded. "We are more vigilant, we no longer wait for them to come in to act," explains a military source. According to his testimony, the innocent passage was previously monitored from the Navy's Maritime Action Surveillance and Operations Center (COVAM). However, now this control is supported by the departure of ships to meet those who make the innocent passage. At the moment, as EL MUNDO has confirmed, the Atalaya patrol boat is deployed in Ceuta; while the Isla de León is used in Melilla.
The Atalaya is a patrol boat, one of the main Surveillance units of the Navy's Maritime Action Force. As such, its fundamental mission is to contribute to the protection of national maritime interests within State Action at Sea. This mission is carried out through the systematic surveillance of spaces of sovereignty in order to detect and report activities of an extraordinary nature, control possible violations or infractions of international legislation in the maritime field and prevent activities that may affect our national interests. Equipped with four machine guns and a cannon, the ship is based in Ferrol and has a crew of 48 people.
More discreet is the Isla de León, prominent in Melilla these days. It is another patrol boat equipped with 10 members of the Navy and equipped with a Browning machine gun, as well as CETME rifles, POSTAS shotguns and 9 millimeter pistols. Although it normally operates in the waters of Ceuta to monitor its sovereignty and that of the island of Perejil, these days it is carrying out its work in Melilla in the face of the Moroccan offensive.
Although Spain now mobilizes its ships every time Morocco passes in front of Ceuta and Melilla, neither last Thursday nor on the days of the Kings' visit was there any innocent step. This information has been confirmed by sources from the Ministry of the Interior, the Civil Guard and the Navy to this newspaper.
As published by El País on October 12, during the violation of the land border with Morocco in Ceuta, the flagship of the Moroccan Royal Navy, the Mohamed VI, invaded Spanish territorial waters. The pressure, which increased with the arrival of two more patrol boats, forced Defense to mobilize vessels from Rota, and the Chief of Defense Staff (JEMAD) himself, to contact Morocco to ask them to desist from their attack.
The episode of July 30 thus marked a turning point in the way of responding to the maritime incursions around the two autonomous cities. The difference is not in Spain's ability to detect the presence of foreign ships, a task that the Navy was already carrying out through its surveillance systems, but in the decision to reinforce this monitoring with a reactive attitude towards the presence of ships. The departure of the patrol boats makes it possible to monitor the movements of Moroccan vessels, keep them under direct observation and make it visible that Spain is aware of what is happening in its waters.
The change also has an operational dimension. Maritime surveillance does not only consist of identifying a ship and checking its course, but also assessing its behavior, determining whether it respects the conditions of innocent passage and deciding what response is appropriate at each moment. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea recognizes the right of innocent passage through the territorial sea of another State, provided that navigation complies with the conditions provided for in the treaty. Not every transit of a foreign ship constitutes, therefore, an infraction. The key is to distinguish between navigation in accordance with international law and an action that may compromise the sovereignty, security or order of the coastal State.
It is expected that the departure of the patrol boats will be seen by Morocco as an element of deterrence: the vessels that approach Ceuta and Melilla know that they may encounter a Spanish unit that will follow their movements and may intervene if the legal conditions to do so are met. Surveillance, however, does not eliminate the risk that an encounter at sea may lead to a new episode of tension, especially when the vessels involved belong to the armed forces of two neighboring countries.
The pressure that Morocco exerts on the land and maritime limits of Ceuta and Melilla forces Spain to combine the defense of its sovereignty with the management of a bilateral relationship in which cooperation is decisive in areas such as security, immigration and the fight against criminal networks. An insufficient response can fuel the perception that certain actions are not opposed; A reaction that does not measure its consequences, for its part, can aggravate a diplomatic crisis. The key now lies in knowing whether the patrol officers' performance remains a stable measure over time. In a scenario in which each approach can acquire a political reading, and two months after the territorial violation, the operational message is clear: Spain does not give up monitoring its waters and wants to do so from the first moment, without waiting for a new incident to force additional means to be mobilized.
