The Diplomat
The Polisario Front has announced its decision to suspend contacts with the current Spanish government after the latter showed its support for Morocco’s autonomy plan for Western Sahara.
The Polisario had already expressed its displeasure with the government’s change of position on the former Spanish colony and now, following the rejection by most Spanish political groups of the decision taken by President Pedro Sánchez and his recent meeting in Rabat with King Mohamed VI, it has taken the step of cutting off relations with the government.
In a statement issued in the early hours of Saturday morning from Bir Lehlu in Western Sahara, the Polisario General Secretariat points out that “in view of the concrete steps” taken by the Sanchez government, it has decided to suspend contacts with the Spanish government to disassociate itself “from using the Saharawi question”.
The statement explains that the decision follows the support for the “illegal proposal of the Moroccan occupier that aims to legitimise the annexation of the territories of Western Sahara by force and ignoring the inalienable rights of the Saharawi people to self-determination and independence”.
“The Polisario Front decides to suspend its contacts with the present Spanish government (…) in the framework of miserable dealings with the occupier, and until it adheres to the resolutions of international legitimacy which recognise the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination and to respect the borders of their country as internationally recognised”, the text indicates.
In its statement, the Polisario recalls that Spain “has responsibilities” towards the Saharawi people and towards the United Nations, since “it is the administering power” of the region, “whose responsibilities do not expire”, it underlines.
The statement also thanks the Spanish Congress of Deputies and the “broad and transversal movement of solidarity” with their cause, for urging “so strongly” the Spanish government on the “need to return to the path of international legality”.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs assured yesterday that “it will always keep all channels of dialogue open” with the Polisario Front, sources from the Department headed by José Manuel Albares told Europa Press.
The Spanish government’s contacts with the Polisario Front, which has a delegation in Madrid, have always taken place outside the official margins, as Spain does not recognise the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).
In February 2020, shortly after the entry of Unidas Podemos into Pedro Sánchez’s government, the Secretary of State for Social Rights, Nacho Álvarez, received a delegation from the Polisario Front in his office, which included Suelma Beiruk, SADR’s Minister for Social Affairs and Women’s Emancipation.
After the meeting, the Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Bourita, called his Spanish colleague, Arancha González Laya, to express Morocco’s displeasure, who replied that Spain’s position on the Sahara had not changed, because it is “state policy”.
