The Sahrawi separatist Front Polisario, supported by Algeria, expressed its “astonishment” at the position of the Spanish government to support the Moroccan position on Western Sahara, according to a press release sent to AFP on Saturday.
Spain on Friday made a radical change of position on the highly sensitive Western Sahara issue by publicly supporting Morocco’s position for the first time, ending a major diplomatic quarrel between the two countries; a position welcomed by Rabat.
“Spain considers that the autonomy initiative presented in 2007 (by Morocco) is the most serious, realistic and credible basis for the resolution of this dispute” between Rabat and the separatists of the Polisario Front, declared before the press in Barcelona the head of Spanish diplomacy José Manuel Albares.
“With great astonishment, the government of the Sahrawi Republic and the Polisario Front were informed on Friday of the content of the two communiqués issued by the Moroccan occupier and the Spanish government”.
“The position expressed by the Spanish government absolutely contradicts international legitimacy. The United Nations, the African Union, the European Union, the International Court of Justice and the European Court of Justice and all regional organizations do not recognize any sovereignty of Morocco on Western Sahara,” the Polisario statement added.
The statement calls on political forces in Madrid to “put pressure on the Spanish government to correct this serious error”.
Algiers recalls its Spanish ambassador
Algeria recalled its ambassador to Madrid on Saturday to protest once morest a “sudden reversal” of Spain, which said it was in favor of an autonomy plan proposed by Morocco for Western Sahara, a file in which Algiers supports the Polisario separatists.
“Very surprised by the declarations of the highest Spanish authorities relating to the Western Sahara file, the Algerian authorities, surprised by this sudden reversal of position of the former power administering Western Sahara, decided to recall their ambassador to Madrid to consultations with immediate effect,” the Algerian foreign ministry said in a statement.
The head of Spanish diplomacy José Manuel Albares indicated on Friday in Barcelona that Spain “considers the autonomy initiative presented in 2007” by Morocco, as “the most serious, realistic and credible basis for resolving this dispute” between Rabat and the Polisario.
This new position was hailed by the Moroccan authorities as “constructive commitments”, paving the way for a thaw in bilateral relations.
A major diplomatic quarrel opposed Rabat and Madrid since April 2021 following the reception in Spain for treatment of Covid-19, of the leader of the Polisario Brahim Ghali.
It resulted in the massive arrival in May 2021 of migrants of Moroccan origin in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta (northern Morocco), taking advantage of a relaxation of border surveillance on the Moroccan side.
As part of the normalization of relations between the two countries, a visit by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to Morocco, the date of which has not been communicated, is scheduled while the head of diplomacy will go to Rabat “before the end of the month”, according to the Spanish government.
According to Bernabé López, professor of Arab and Islamic studies at the Autonomous University of Madrid, this Spanish gesture on the Sahara aims in particular to obtain from Rabat a management of migratory flows. So that “there is more control and not this intentional lack of control on the part of Morocco”, he judges.
The conflict in Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony considered a “non-autonomous territory” by the UN, has pitted Morocco once morest the separatists of the Polisario, supported by Algiers, for decades.
Rabat, which controls nearly 80% of this desert territory with its rich subsoil and waters full of fish, proposes an autonomy plan under its sovereignty while the Polisario calls for a self-determination referendum, planned when it was signed in 1991 of a ceasefire but never materialized.
– “Serious error” –
The Polisario denounced Madrid’s change of position on Saturday, expressing “a lot of astonishment” at a Spanish position which “absolutely contradicts international legitimacy”. The Sahrawi separatists called on the political forces in Madrid to “put pressure on the Spanish government to correct this serious error”.
“The United Nations, the African Union, the European Union, the International Court of Justice and the European Court of Justice and all the regional organizations do not recognize any sovereignty of Morocco over Western Sahara”, added the Polisario in a statement.
Algeria supplied more than 40% of the natural gas imported by Spain in 2021, most of which reaches it through the Medgaz submarine gas pipeline, with a capacity of 10 billion cubic meters per year.
Another part of the Algerian gas arrived until last October in Spain through another gas pipeline, the GME, passing through Morocco. Since the fall, Algiers has suspended its operation following the rupture of diplomatic relations with Rabat at the end of August.
