The Diplomat
The political definition of the Moroccan regime and the political turn of the Spanish Government regarding Western Sahara have generated the first important rift between the direction of Sumar and the second candidate in the list of Madrid and great star signing of the formation of Yolanda Diaz, the ambassador Agustín Santos Maraver.
In declarations to the Efe news agency, the former Spanish ambassador to the UN assured last Monday from New York that Morocco is not ruled by a “dictatorship” (in contradiction with Yolanda Diaz’s own words), but by “a regime of co-sovereignty between the king and the people”. He also affirmed that human rights violations in Morocco are limited to “individual cases”.
In the same interview, Santos Maraver affirmed that Morocco is “a strategic partner” and that a left-wing government in Spain should “accompany the spaces of modernization and expansion of the democratic space” in this country. “What we have with Morocco is to develop a sphere of co-prosperity so that from “the two shores of the Mediterranean”, including “the closest points, which are Spain and Morocco”, and also from the European Union, a “Maghreb union” can be “promoted”. “We have always talked about the price of not having this Maghreb union, which affects the entire Mediterranean through this process of cooperation, of joint collaboration, and I think it is very beneficial for both countries,” he added.
As far as Western Sahara is concerned, the former ambassador believes that we should not speak of a “turning point” on the part of Spain because it continues to put the UN at the center of any possible solution, and warned that it is not correct to expect some kind of counterpart from Morocco for this reason.
The number three on the Sumar list in Madrid, the Saharawi activist Tesh Sidi, declared last week to the daily El Independiente that Moncloa should reverse its position on the Saharawi dispute and again described the Moroccan regime as a “dictatorship”. The pilot program presented last May by Sumar advocates “constructive pressure” on Morocco to seek an agreed solution to the Western Sahara conflict which respects its right to self-determination.
Ernest Urtasun
In response to the words of Santos Maraver, the spokesman of the electoral campaign of Sumar, Ernest Urtasun, declared yesterday to Onda Cero that Morocco, “obviously, is not a democracy because there is no separation of powers” and reiterated that Sumar is in favor of “the defense of human rights in Morocco and anywhere in the world”. “As democracy and human rights advance in Morocco, we can aspire to a better bilateral relationship,” he added.
However, he specified that his party’s position on this issue is “unique.” “The position of Ambassador Santos is that of Tesh Sidi and it is also mine: the defense of the self-determination of the Sahara in full compliance with the UN resolutions”, he declared.
In his opinion, the decision of the Government (in which Yolanda Diaz holds the First Vice-Presidency) to recognize the Moroccan autonomy plan for Western Sahara “was not a good idea” because the letter sent by President Pedro Sanchez to the King of Morocco implied accepting the “language” of Morocco on the Sahara and, therefore, it means going “much further than any other country in the European Union” in recognizing the autonomy plan, even more than Germany, which was until then the country most inclined to do so.
“As a former administering power, we need to maintain interlocution with both sides if we want to play our historic role, which is to resolve the conflict,” he warned. “We have a historical responsibility and we must be able to resolve it”, but “with this change of position, the socialist part of the Spanish government decided to stop being a valid interlocutor for the Saharawi party”, he regretted.
