The Diplomat in Spain

The Diplomat

Morocco implied on Wednesday that for reconciliation with Spain to take place, Spain should at least do what Germany has done, calling Morocco’s autonomy proposal for Western Sahara “a good basis” for peace in the area.

This is what Morocco’s Prime Minister, Aziz Akhnnouch, was quoted as saying in an interview on Wednesday night, broadcast simultaneously on all public television stations in the Maghreb country, when he was asked about relations with Spain.

Although Akhnnouch did not expressly mention Spain, he pointed out that King Mohammed VI has been clear in his speeches and that “the Kingdom’s relations with other countries are based on loyalty and ambition”. “When there is loyalty between Morocco and another country, we will have a great ambition to develop projects with a future,” he said.

He went on to point out that this will be the case “with those who understand the question of the Moroccan Sahara and who support it”. “Those who still do not understand this condition will have enough time in the future to share it”.

Akhnnouch did not fail to recall, in a clear message to Spain, that “Germany is a country that is now clear on the Sahara issue”, in reference to the bilateral crisis between Berlin and Rabat in March last year, and which has not been maintained until a few weeks ago, when German diplomacy said that it considers Morocco’s offer to grant autonomy to Western Sahara, but under its sovereignty, to be a “good basis” for reaching a peace agreement in the area, in which Morocco and the Polisario are waging a low-intensity war.

Germany thus distanced itself from the UN position, which is supported by Spain, which advocates reaching a political, just, lasting and mutually acceptable solution on Western Sahara, but without accepting the Moroccan proposal for autonomy.

The Moroccan authorities do not seem to consider sufficient to normalise relations with Spain the latest gestures of Pedro Sánchez’s government, which decided to use the figure of King Felipe VI to invite Rabat to ‘walk together’, as the monarch said in his speech to the Diplomatic Corps. Neither these words nor the fact that King Felipe VI attended the Moroccan stand at Fitur have so far led Morocco to adopt any conciliatory measures, such as the return to Madrid of the ambassador who was recalled for consultations in April last year, as a result of the ‘Ghali case’.