Comienzan las maniobras militares African Lion 2022

This Monday marks the start of a new edition of the African Lion military exercises, organised by the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces (FAR) and the United States Army, with the participation of delegations from a total of 13 allied countries, as well as military observers from around thirty African countries and from other continents. 

The manoeuvres of this military rehearsal will take place from 20 to 30 June 2022 in the regions of Kenitra, in the north of Morocco, and in Agadir, TanTan, Taroudant and Mahbès, further south in Morocco, as indicated by the General Staff of the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces (FAR).

Around 7,500 soldiers from Morocco, the United States and various partner countries will take part in these military manoeuvres, which will also take place in other scenarios such as Tunisia, Senegal and Ghana. The military training is estimated to be worth some 36 million dollars.

The United States Armed Forces Central Command for Africa (AFRICOM) explained that the African Lion 2022 exercises will include joint manoeuvres by various military detachments in different sectors such as land, air and sea, along with other decontamination operations in the face of nuclear, radiological, biological and chemical risks. Training that can prevent and train against possible enemy chemical, nuclear or bacteriological attacks. It also includes leadership training and training activities for operations against violent extremist organisations.

These military manoeuvres are the largest on the African continent, with exercises in the different parts of the Alawite kingdom mentioned above and near Western Sahara.

Indeed, Western Sahara remains the subject of controversy after more than 40 years of dispute following Spain's departure from the territory as a colonising country. The proposal that currently has the strongest support for a solution to the conflict is that of Morocco, which proposes broad autonomy for the Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty. This proposal received a major boost thanks to the recognition in 2020 of Donald Trump's past US administration and the current support of Joe Biden's government. Other countries such as Germany, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates and Spain also consider the Moroccan option to be the most appropriate way to solve the problem. This is in contrast to the initiative to hold a referendum within the Sahrawi population that the Polisario Front and Algeria are advocating, and which has less international support. 

For the second time in history, these military exercises are being held in the area bordering Western Sahara, which is once again raising expectations about the conflict in the Saharawi territory. 

Already last year, shortly after the United States recognised the Moroccan sovereignty of the Sahara, the US military announced that the exercises would take place in Greir Labouhi, located some fifty kilometres west of the Tindouf camps (in Algerian territory) controlled by the Polisario Front, where thousands of Sahrawi refugees are living in very difficult conditions while awaiting a solution to the dispute. 

These military manoeuvres underline the good cooperation between Morocco and the United States in this area. In fact, the Alawi kingdom has been modernising its armaments and equipment for months with US and French material, which is being used to modernise the Moroccan armed forces.

For its part, Spain has confirmed that it will not participate in the military manoeuvres organised by the US and Moroccan armies. All this despite the new diplomatic stage opened between the Spanish country and the Kingdom, which have settled the diplomatic crisis unleashed in April 2021 when Brahim Ghali, leader of the Polisario Front, was allowed to enter Spanish territory to be treated for a respiratory condition in a hospital in Logroño. Morocco denounced the lack of cooperation from a neighbouring country considered an ally for not being informed of this situation, and other episodes followed that made the situation tense, such as the entry of thousands of illegal immigrants through the Ceuta border or the withdrawal of the Moroccan ambassador from Madrid. 

Spain tried to redirect the situation with several messages from King Felipe VI and the appointment of José Manuel Albares as Foreign Affairs Minister to replace Arancha González Laya, who had been marked by the Ghali affair. But underlying the dispute was the fact that Morocco lacked Spain's support for its plan for Western Sahara.

Finally, the diplomatic problem was solved when Pedro Sánchez's government recognised the Moroccan proposal for the Sahara as the 'most credible, serious and realistic' with a view to resolving the conflict over the Sahrawi territory within the postulates of the UN. King Mohammed VI reciprocated this gesture by inviting the Spanish Prime Minister to Rabat in the middle of Ramadan, and the meeting between the two leaders laid out the road map for a full diplomatic relationship between the two countries, with agreements on important issues such as Operation Crossing the Strait or the issue of the opening of the borders of Ceuta and Melilla. 

America Coordinator: José Antonio Sierra.