Hospitalization of Brahim Ghali, head of the Polisario in Spain: Morocco angry
Western Sahara: Brahim Ghali, leader of the Polisario, and president of the SADR (here in 2019) is 73 years old.
Corbis via Getty Images - Stefano Montesi - Corbis
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Spain provoked the anger of Morocco, for having allowed the entry and then the hospitalization of the leader of the Saharawi separatists of the Polisario Front Brahim Ghali.
On Saturday, Morocco summoned the Spanish ambassador to Rabat to ask for explanations.
Madrid assured that this decision should not affect the good relations between Morocco and Spain.
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It would be for humanitarian reasons that Spain accepted the hospitalization of the secretary general of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali, according to the head of Spanish diplomacy Arancha Gonzalez Laya.
According to the Spanish media, he would have entered Spain via Algeria under a false identity, reports our correspondent in Madrid,
Diane Cambon
.
Suffering from Covid-19, he was taken care of in a hospital in Logroño in the Navarre region, in the north of the country.
Many details on the conditions of his arrival in Spain remain to be clarified.
Since 2006, Brahim Ghali has been prosecuted in Spain by the National Hearing for the offense of genocide, assassinations and torture following a complaint filed by three Sahrawis who lived in the refugee camps of Tindouf, in Algeria.
Morocco has expressed its exasperation and asks Spain for an explanation as Madrid seeks to play down the situation, assuring that Spain maintains very good relations with Morocco.
"
This does not prevent and does not disturb the excellent relations that Spain has with Morocco
", assured Arancha Gonzalez Laya in a press conference this weekend.
It remains to be seen what Brahim Ghali will do when he is recovered and can leave the hospital and if Spain will proceed with his arrest.
Mr. Ghali was elected on July 9, 2016 at the head of the Polisario
, which campaigns for the independence of the former Spanish colony of Western Sahara, which
it is disputing with Morocco.
In Western Sahara, classified as a “non-autonomous territory” by the United Nations in the absence of a definitive settlement, Morocco has opposed the Polisario Front, supported by Algeria, for nearly half a century.
The separatist Polisario Front and the Kingdom of Morocco had observed a ceasefire for almost 30 years before the resumption of hostilities in mid-November 2020, when Moroccan troops were deployed in a buffer zone in the extreme south of the country. Western Sahara.
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See also
: Western Sahara: the Polisario reacts after the death of one of its leaders in a drone strike
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