CEUTA, Spain - Spain’s King Juan Carlos on Monday started a controversial visit to the disputed enclave of Ceuta which has sparked a major diplomatic row with Morocco. Ceuta and another city enclave on the Moroccan coast, Melilla, have been in Spanish hands for centuries but are claimed by the north African country which recalled its ambassador to Madrid last week in protest at the king’s first visit to the enclaves.Juan Carlos arrived by helicopter to cheers of ‘Long Live Spain’ and ‘Ceuta is Spanish’ from tens of thousands of residents. He was given a 21-gun salute. The two-day visit to the enclaves by Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia is the first in his 32-year reign. It also comes against the backdrop of new Al Qaeda threats against Spanish, French and US interests in north Africa.
‘I have an engagement to honour face to face with Ceuta, with the Ceutans, with the Ceutan authorities but also with myself,’ Juan Carlos told the city assembly in a speech. ‘I did not want to let any more time pass without coming to Ceuta to express to you our approval and our support,’ he added—without mentioning directly the row the visit had caused with Morocco. Spain ‘cultivates a sincere friendship with its neighbours,’ he added.