The head of the Spanish government Pedro Sanchez is expected Thursday in Morocco on the occasion of a two-day official visit supposed to mark the end of a major diplomatic crisis between the two countries and to revive bilateral relations.

The Moroccan royal palace said in a statement that Mohammed VI "will have official talks" with Pedro Sanchez and "will also offer an Iftar", breaking the Ramadan fast, "in honor" of his "illustrious host".

An invitation to break the fast welcomed by the head of Spanish diplomacy José Manuel Albares, who indicated on Tuesday that it is considered in Madrid as "a very strong sign of friendship".

Still, Spain and Morocco, scrambled since April 2021, have come a long way.

The neighbors began to normalize their relations on March 18, after a year of crisis, thanks to a change in Madrid's position on the status of Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony.

The file, elevated to the rank of national cause in Morocco, is very sensitive.

Since 1975, he has opposed the Cherifian kingdom to the Sahrawi separatists of the Polisario Front, supported by the Algerian authorities.

For the UN, Western Sahara, 80% controlled by Morocco, is a non-autonomous territory.

Breaking with the neutrality displayed by Spain for decades on the issue, Pedro Sanchez had publicly announced his support for the autonomy plan under Moroccan sovereignty proposed in 2007 by Rabat.

A plan that he now considers "the most serious, realistic and credible basis for the resolution of this dispute" of Western Sahara.

Chronology of tensions between Spain and Morocco

Ironically, the diplomatic crisis between the two countries was caused in April 2021 by the presence in Spain of the leader of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali, against the backdrop of the question of Western Sahara.

"In danger of death" after contracting Covid-19, Morocco's number one enemy had arrived in Spain, according to the daily El Pais, in the greatest secrecy on April 18, on board a medical plane from the Algerian presidency and in possession of a "diplomatic passport".

Authorized at the "highest level", according to El Pais, this favor granted to Algeria, Spain's main gas supplier, provoked the ire of Rabat, which demanded a "transparent investigation" into the conditions of the arrival of Brahim Ghali, whom she accused of having entered Spain "with falsified documents and a usurped identity".

Strong exchanges, reminder of the Moroccan ambassador… the reception of the leader of the Sahrawi separatists, which Madrid had justified by "humanitarian reasons", had caused several weeks of tension.

Brahim Ghali's departure in early June for Algeria did not help matters.

Targeted by two complaints for "torture" and "genocide", Brahim Ghali had been heard by a Spanish judge who took no coercive measures against him, leaving him free to leave Spanish territory, to the chagrin of the Cherifian kingdom.

Reassembled, the latter put pressure by playing the migration card.

Madrid's traditional partner in the fight against illegal immigration thus relaxed its border controls for a few days in mid-May, allowing 10,000 migrants to pass by the beach or by the sea in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta , located in the north of Morocco.

Spain leans in favor of the Moroccan plan

Madrid had described the Moroccan initiative as "blackmail" and "aggression with regard to the Spanish borders but also the borders of the European Union".

Pedro Sanchez had said it was "inadmissible" that "the borders should be open so that 10,000 migrants can enter a Spanish city in less than 48 hours" because of "foreign policy differences".

For its part, Rabat had assured that the crisis between the two countries does not "end with (the) departure" of Brahim Ghali, because it was linked to the Spanish position on Western Sahara: this is considered there as "sacred cause of the whole of the Moroccan people".

Leaning in favor of the Moroccan autonomy plan, after several months of tension, the socialist Pedro Sanchez, places Spain alongside France, Germany and the United States.

However, he is now criticized even within his coalition, in particular by the radical left party Podemos, in favor of self-determination for Sahrawis.

Above all, by patching things up with Rabat, in the name of "close cooperation" with the Moroccans, "essential to protect the safety of the Spaniards (...) in the first place (thanks) to the fight against irregular immigration", Madrid clashed with Algiers.

Denouncing a "turnaround", Algeria recalled its ambassador to Spain on March 19, opening a new period of tension with an essential partner of the country.

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