Thousands of people braving rough seas, clinging to rubber tubes and makeshift flotation devices, trying desperately to swim barely 100 metres into Europe. These extraordinary scenes which unfolded at Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta recently have become one of the defining images of the global migration crisis this year.
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But behind the viral visuals lies a much bigger story — one that stretches far beyond poverty and illegal migration into geopolitics, diplomacy and Europe's dependence on Morocco to guard its southern frontier.
