The Diplomat
The military manoeuvres that Morocco is going to carry out in waters close to the Canary Islands have led the government of the archipelago to request information from the central executive and the leaders of the PP in the islands to accuse Pedro Sánchez of hermeticism.
The president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, has expressed his concern to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, about these manoeuvres, which Morocco is planning to carry out unilaterally from next Friday in the waters of Western Sahara, 125 kilometres from the Canary Islands coast.
According to the Deputy Minister of the Presidency and spokesman for the Canary Islands Government, Alfonso Cabello, during the press conference following the Governing Council yesterday, the autonomous community has asked the Ministry for more information on the nature of these manoeuvres, which are scheduled to take place over three consecutive months.
The spokesman indicated that this reiterates “a letter that was sent on 26 February by Clavijo to Pedro Sánchez, asking him for information on the different meetings that had been held with the Kingdom of Morocco and about which we have no news”.
Unnamed diplomatic sources quoted by El Confidencial said that this unprecedented deployment is “a political response to reaffirm Morocco’s sovereignty over these waters”, as well as “a clear message that Morocco will not tolerate any interference in its territory”.
The manoeuvres, which will take place from 29 March to 28 June, will cover four specific maritime areas, and during the period of the exercises, all fishing activities will be banned in these zones.
Yesterday, Jacob Qadri, secretary general of the Partido Popular de Canarias, the party that supports the regional government, demanded that the Spanish government urgently provide all available information on these exercises.
Qadri denounced the “secrecy” that he considers the Government of Sánchez maintains “on a regular basis” with all matters affecting the Islands. And he criticised “the opacity” with which any issue relating to Morocco that affects the Canary Islands is carried out.
“We are seriously concerned that the Spanish Government remains strictly silent, impassive, on issues as important as border control, the delimitation of territorial waters, the Western Sahara conflict and, now, these military manoeuvres that the neighbouring country will carry out at the gates of the archipelago”, he commented.
The Secretary General of the Popular Party of the Canary Islands reproached the President of the Spanish Government for the fact that these military manoeuvres have been revealed through the fishing sector. “They have not been officially communicated”, Qadri regretted, adding that it is “one more episode of the obscurantism that Sánchez maintains in relations with Morocco, which has a direct impact on the Islands and which he is obliged to inform”.
