Nourdine Mouati: “España no podía quedarse rezagada en la cuestión del Sáhara Occidental”
Morocco and Spain are resuming diplomatic relations at one of the most important moments for the foreign policy of both countries. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's support for Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara opens a new stage in relations with the Alawi kingdom. This reconciliation of positions is expected to be officially celebrated in the near future during a visit to Rabat by Pedro Sánchez and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, at the invitation of Mohammed VI. Nourdine Mouati, analyst and cooperation expert, analyses Spain's diplomatic turnaround in relations with Morocco.
From the Moroccan point of view, what does this new stage, Pedro Sánchez's trip and Spain's acknowledgement that the Moroccan proposal is a "serious, credible and realistic" proposal to resolve the Sahara conflict, mean now?
The first thing, and what is being reported in the Moroccan official media, is that we have managed to regain confidence. The trust that had been lost when Spain concealed from Morocco the arrival of the head of the Polisario, an armed organisation that declares itself to be an enemy, and de facto is Morocco's enemy.
Morocco has maintained very close cooperation with Spain in recent years, in the area of security and defence, the fight against terrorism, and suddenly, with this event, everything that has happened in recent years has been overshadowed. Now that trust has been regained and with this basis of mutual commitment to establish a sincere and calm dialogue, a stage is opening up with many opportunities for both countries. I would insist that, although this incident overshadowed some of the relations that were progressing between the two countries, for example, Spanish exports to Morocco have been a record: more than 9,500 million euros in exports by Spanish companies to Morocco. In the commercial sphere, relations continue, we have many opportunities together and we believe that this is the pact. A crucial pact to consolidate this strategic and global alliance, that is to say, together, Spain and Morocco can be an enormous commercial power in terms of exports to third countries.
I would insist on trust. They have regained trust based on this constant dialogue that must prevail and not, as the communiqué rightly says, take unilateral decisions, as was, for example, the reception of the leader of the Polisario Front.
These unilateral actions are interpreted here in Madrid as guarantees that there will be no unilateral actions with Ceuta, Melilla or the territorial waters of the Canary Islands. Do you think that Morocco's commitment to respect the current status quo will be maintained and is it a firm commitment?
A large part of Morocco's project at the international level is mainly the one it has with advanced nations such as the United States and France: it is that Morocco will always comply with what it has agreed. And on the issue of the demarcation of the Atlantic waters, of the limits between the maritime borders of Morocco and the Canary Islands, Morocco made it clear; the minister said that we would always resort to dialogue and international maritime designation in matters of water delimitation.
As far as Ceuta and Melilla are concerned, although sometimes there are statements by politicians who do not share the official position, an agreement can always be reached within the framework of dialogue. I always say that many years ago, when there was talk of co-sovereignty over Gibraltar, Hassan II insisted on this aspect, which could be a way to jointly explore co-sovereignty over the two cities, but it is a minor issue in the face of the greater challenges we currently face: the war in Russia, the trade issue, which I want to insist on, and the economic relations between the two countries, which are strategic. The development of both shores of the Mediterranean depends to a large extent on this strategic Spanish-Moroccan alliance.
Morocco is a country that is now a guarantor of stability in this sensitive area in the southern Mediterranean, especially given the problems we have in the Sahel, with countries with growing instability such as Algeria or the prevailing instability in Libya. The United States has understood this, which is why it supports the autonomy plan. Spain could not lag behind Germany, with a social democratic government, with a Green foreign minister insisting that the only viable and realistic plan is the plan that the Kingdom of Morocco has launched for the Moroccan Sahara. I believe that Spain has taken a courageous step considering that it is one of the supporters of the Polisario Front, which is an empty entity dominated by Algeria. Here the country that directly intervenes in all the decisions of the Polisario Front militia is Algeria.
As the United States has also said, Algeria must be present in the negotiations, but the conflict is no longer with a separatist minority seeking independence in southern Morocco, which is only a minority, because the majority of the population is in favour of Morocco, but it is a matter of Algeria's confrontation with its somewhat warmongering view of the Kingdom of Morocco. I believe that this is the key, although Spain has taken this step, in the end we have to situate the conflict correctly, and the fact is that Algeria does not want to take the step, Algeria is maintaining this conflict for internal political interests of diverting the attention of its citizens towards a conflict that has been going on for many years and that has no reason to exist because Morocco is also a country that is moving, as Spain did at the time, towards the State of Autonomies. I believe that this is the appropriate and realistic framework that safeguards the interests of Spain and other European countries as well, because this is a very sensitive area and we must avoid creating empty entities that serve to allow radical, fanatical or warlike messages to take root and destabilise the entire area of southern Morocco, the Sahara and the Sahel, and this can lead to migration, terrorism and other phenomena that nobody wants.
The point is that we should all do our bit to help Algeria and Morocco - in this case, no matter whose initiative it was - to restore relations, because we all know that the opening of this border between Algeria and Morocco would be very positive for many people.
I am in complete agreement. His Majesty King Mohammed VI already reached out to Algeria in his message on the Feast of the Throne, but there was silence and even more warmongering statements from the Algerian ruling regime. Algeria is a brother country of Morocco - we share a common history, Morocco actively participated in Algeria's independence - but we already know a little about its internal politics: there is a military oligarchy, which is still in power, that has a two-sided view. We already know that most of them were trained in Russia through the KGB, and they still have this two-sided view of the world. They are defending a side that is already history.
Morocco has done what it had to do. The King, the head of state, has reached out, but there has been no response from Algeria, because Algeria also has an internal situation whereby it seeks to divert the attention of its population towards a conflict and an enemy that is not an enemy because, as I have said, the Algerian people are Morocco's brothers. Many initiatives have been attempted. The most important has been that of the King, extending his hand and inviting us to open a new stage in bilateral relations, but Algeria does not want to, for reasons, as I have said, of another era that we have moved on from.
Furthermore, I am aware that the US Administration's statements insist that Algeria should tone down its offensive tone towards Morocco and that it should also seek an alliance with Morocco for its own benefit, since it is an important producer of agricultural products and Algeria imports many agricultural and food products, suffers a very significant shortage of certain basic products such as milk, and has a producer next door who is willing to work with them. In short, there is a certain complementarity, but that depends on Algeria's leaders. Morocco, as I have said, has made a very important gesture with the King's message of peace and openness, but unfortunately the Algerian side continues to support the Polisario Front militia and to incite them to war, a fictitious war. Let us hope that the European Union will also put pressure on Algeria to make progress in this dialogue and towards the possibility of opening the borders.
Furthermore, what we can hope for in the solution to this conflict is that the United Nations will convene the Geneva table, as it has done on two previous occasions, in order to negotiate and resolve a conflict in which the thousands of Saharawis living in the Tindouf camps would win. I have seen how Morocco has prepared family reunification, housing, employment, education and health so that family reunification can take place, which is what the Saharawis want, right?
Yes, they do. Morocco has been insisting on this for years, ever since Hassan II's speech. What has happened in recent years is that people in Spain are unaware that there have been people who have barely been able to escape from the Tindouf camps, which are controlled by the Polisario guerrillas and by the Algerian Gendarmerie, which does not allow anyone to move freely or to return to southern Morocco. This is what has happened in recent years, even important Polisario leaders have returned to Morocco, living well and enjoying the prosperity of this region. Morocco has invested a lot of money in its southern provinces, if you have had the opportunity to visit Dakhla and see the great development and investment Morocco has made in this territory. The door is still open, but unfortunately Algeria prevents most of the population from returning.
Going back to the negotiating table, Algeria does not want to sit down and says it is not a party. How can it not be? Since 1976, Algeria started supporting the Polisario Front, which was a group of young people with Marxist ideas who started fighting against Spanish colonisation and then unfortunately ended up in the hands of Algeria. They even killed more than 350 Spaniards, they also riddled fishermen and workers in Laayoune with bullets. This is a part that Spanish politicians try to whitewash, especially from the extreme left, they try to hide the crimes of the Polisario Front. The Polisario has been training in Algeria, this country hosted and gave support to ETA, who trained together with the militiamen of the Polisario Front.
Morocco has never hosted any pro-independence organisation, neither Basque nor Catalan. Morocco has not changed this policy in recent years and is a serious country. The US administration, which, whether we like it or not, is the world's leading power, with Biden, has not changed a single comma of the statements made by President Trump. Moreover, every day, I know that there are American investors who are investing in Dakhla and Laayoune, in the south of Morocco, strengthening Morocco's sovereignty over its southern provinces, and they are saying the same thing, that this conflict has no reason to exist and that Algeria should sit down in negotiations and put an end to this issue because they are the ones who de facto control the Polisario Front and who are interested in this conflict for reasons of Algerian internal politics.