Western Sahara: Spain begins support for Morocco's proposals
Detailed map of Western Sahara.
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After a year of major diplomatic quarrel, Spain and Morocco normalized their relations on Friday March 18 thanks to a gesture of support long demanded by Rabat in Madrid on the highly sensitive issue of Western Sahara.
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An exchange of press releases between Rabat and Madrid, yesterday Friday, endorses the ongoing warming between the two capitals and the change of tone in Madrid.
"
Today we are entering a new stage in our relationship with Morocco based on mutual respect, respect for agreements, the absence of unilateral actions and transparency and permanent communication
", writes the Spanish government in a press release .
.
This announcement comes after the publication of a press release from the Moroccan royal palace reporting a message from Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez indicating, according to Rabat, that the Moroccan "autonomy" plan for Western Sahara is "the more serious, realistic and credible for the resolution of the dispute".
Later in the day, the head of Spanish diplomacy José Manuel Albares came back to the dossier, before the press in Barcelona, declaring in turn that "
Spain considers that the autonomy initiative presented in 2007 (by the Morocco) is the most serious, realistic and credible basis for the resolution of this dispute
” between Rabat and the separatists of the Polisario Front.
A position that Madrid had never defended before, which has always advocated neutrality between Rabat and the Sahrawi separatists of the Polisario.
Madrid '
gave
in' according to Ignacio Cembrero
As part of the
normalization of relations between the two countries
, a visit by Pedro Sanchez to Morocco, the date of which has not been communicated, is scheduled while the head of Spanish diplomacy, José Manuel Albares, will go to Rabat "
before the end of the month
", says the press release from the Spanish government.
The head of govt.
Spain gives in to #Morocco on #Western Sahara without obtaining any other consideration than the end of the crisis triggered by #Rabat 15 months ago.
#Algeria has not been informed of the strong shift in #Spain's position.
https://t.co/9rplQ8XbUk
— Ignacio Cembrero (@icembrero) March 19, 2022
For Ignacio Cembrero, a Spanish journalist specializing in relations between the two countries, “
the Spanish government gave in to Morocco's main demand
” which asked it to “
support its proposal for autonomy
” for Western Sahara.
"
It's an important change
" because "
Morocco demands that this be made public
" but "
the Spanish authorities have always helped Morocco (on this file) in recent years
" in discretion, he nuances.
Brahim Ghali, leader of the Polisario Front.
Farouk Batiche / AFP
Brahim Ghali, leader of the Polisario Front, point of contention
The conflict in Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony considered a "
non-autonomous territory
" by the UN, has pitted Morocco against the Sahrawi separatists of the Polisario Front, supported by Algiers, for decades.
Rabat, which controls nearly 80% of this territory, proposes an autonomy plan under its sovereignty while the Polisario calls for a self-determination referendum, planned when a ceasefire was signed in 1991, but never materialized.
The major diplomatic quarrel between Madrid and Rabat was caused in April 2021 by the reception in Spain, to be treated there for Covid, of the leader of the Polisario Front,
Brahim Ghali, sworn enemy of Rabat
.
It resulted last May in the massive arrival of migrants of Moroccan origin in
the Spanish enclave of Ceuta
, on the northern coast of Morocco, taking advantage of a “relaxation” of border surveillance on the Moroccan side.
►
To read also
: why this sudden and massive arrival of migrants in Ceuta?
(and with AFP)
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Morocco
Spain
Western Sahara
Diplomacy