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The long history of penance after the original sin of the Sahara

2022-06-12T21:56:15.324Z


Solana and García-Margallo analyze the ups and downs of the most delicate diplomatic triangle for Spain


Spanish soldiers recovered the islet of Perejil, on July 17, 2002. AP

“At dawn and with hard weather in Levante…”.

The theatricality of the then Minister of Defense, Federico Trillo, in explaining in 2002 how the army had recovered the islet of Perejil, occupied by a group of Moroccan gendarmes, caused laughter in the socialist caucus.

Despite the multiple comic aspects of the episode – at first no one knew very well where the uninhabited islet was – the incident complicated the stormy relationship with Rabat for 15 months.

The respective ambassadors were withdrawn.

Javier Solana, Minister of Foreign Affairs between 1992 and 1995 and former Secretary General of NATO, and José Manuel García-Margallo, head of foreign policy in the Government of Mariano Rajoy (2011-2016) analyze, in light of the current conflict with Algiers,

“Without a doubt”, says García-Margallo, “the most delicate balance in Spanish foreign policy is that of the relationship with Morocco and Algeria.

Getting along is the priority for Spain because issues of security, the fight against terrorism, immigration and economic activity depend on it”.

“With Perejil,” he relates, “the relationship with Morocco was complicated for a time, but it was resolved.

When we returned to La Moncloa, at the end of 2011, there was a certain suspicion against us in Morocco because we were the heirs of the Aznar government, which had ordered the recovery of the islet with great firmness, and to a lesser extent because I had been a deputy for Melilla, but was also exceeded.

Later [in 2014] we had a very serious incident, when the Civil Guard detained a sports boat in which the King of Morocco was going.

In his memoirs, the former Minister of the Interior Jorge Fernández Díaz recounts that Felipe VI called him – he admits that it took him a while to locate him because he was on vacation and without coverage – to let him know that Mohamed VI had called him to tell him that he was being held by the Civil Guard.

Fernández Díaz also confirms in his book that Morocco took revenge for that with a wave of boats [1,400 migrants in inflatable boats].

Almost all the migratory crises have coincided with political crises with the neighboring country, which, as Margallo recalls, "looked the other way" when it was convenient for them to pressure Spain or show their discomfort at a certain moment.

"From there," adds the former minister, "we get along phenomenally with both Morocco and Algeria."

A soldier was guarding several young immigrants, some of them wounded, on the Tarajal beach, on the Ceuta border.

Javier Bauluz

Socialist Javier Solana recalls a much more peaceful time in relations with Rabat and Algiers.

“During my time, the big problem was halibut [conflict with Canada over fishing rights for that fish in 1995].

With Morocco and Algeria we achieved a very important milestone: the Euro-Mediterranean conference in Barcelona [bringing together the 15 countries of the EU and 12 from the south, including Israel and Palestine, Algeria and Morocco].

With different formats, that summit was repeated for many years.

At that time, the immigration issue, which is basically what is moving many things, was calm.

The former minister downplays the Perejil incident ―“seen from today, it even makes us laugh a bit.

I think it was a test, they played to see what would happen”―,

recognizes that relations have always been more complicated with Morocco than with Algeria and blames Donald Trump for upsetting those complicated balances.

“He was the one who caused the mess.

He wanted, with Netanyahu [Benjamin, Israel's longest serving prime minister], for Arab countries to recognize and have diplomatic relations with Israel.

He was making offers to each one.

I deduce that they should have asked Morocco what they wanted, they asked the US to recognize that the Sahara was Moroccan, and Trump gave it to them.

From that moment on, Morocco began to pressure Spain to be "bolder" in her policy regarding the Sahara.

that Arab countries recognize and have diplomatic relations with Israel.

He was making offers to each one.

I deduce that they should have asked Morocco what they wanted, they asked the US to recognize that the Sahara was Moroccan, and Trump gave it to them.

From that moment on, Morocco began to pressure Spain to be "bolder" in her policy regarding the Sahara.

that Arab countries recognize and have diplomatic relations with Israel.

He was making offers to each one.

I deduce that they should have asked Morocco what they wanted, they asked the US to recognize that the Sahara was Moroccan, and Trump gave it to them.

From that moment on, Morocco began to pressure Spain to be "bolder" in her policy regarding the Sahara.

Margallo affirms, for his part, that in a meeting with Hillary Clinton she informed him that the United States had “considered the possibility of transferring the military bases of Rota and Morón to Morocco because its relationship with Spain was very deteriorated after the withdrawal of troops. of Iraq by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero”.

The Moroccan Foreign Minister, Nasser Bourita, together with Miguel Ángel Moratinos and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, on Friday. MARR FOREIGN MINISTRY (Europa Press)

Solana recalls that in 2008 President Zapatero adopted a position very similar to that of Sánchez regarding the Sahara [the current president has described the proposal for Moroccan autonomy as the “most serious, realistic and credible” to resolve the conflict], but then “ went unnoticed."

And despite the controversy and conflict with Algeria that Sánchez's movement has generated, he approves of it: “Spain abandoned the Sahara.

It is a theme that comes from Francoism and is our original sin.

But I believe that this position is the only possible solution today, a referendum cannot be held”.

Asked if Spain had to choose between Morocco and Algeria, the main supporter of the Polisario Front, an organization that calls for a self-determination referendum for the Saharawi population, he replies: “No.

You have to try to have good relations with both of them.

Now Rabat is delighted and Algiers is angry, but there have been long periods of stability.

The UN has sent a very good Italian negotiator for the Sahara.

The Russians are trying to enter the Mediterranean and that complicates things, but let's hope stability returns."

Before the change of position of Spain regarding the Sahara outraged Algeria, the anger and reprisals were at the expense of Morocco for the reception in April of last year in a hospital in Logroño of the general secretary of the Polisario Front, Brahim Gali.

The Moroccan authorities responded by encouraging the entry of 10,000 irregular migrants into Ceuta in the midst of the pandemic, many of them minors.

The Foreign Minister when Gali was welcomed, Arancha González Laya, was relieved in July 2021 by José Manuel Albares, who picked up the portfolio promising to strengthen relations with the countries on the southern shore of the Mediterranean and, "especially, with the great friend and neighbor Morocco”.

Laya was spied on in the midst of a crisis with Rabat when her phone was attacked.

She was notified by the CNI, which confirmed the intrusion on her cell phone,

Now it is Albares who is in the crosshairs of Algeria.

Furthermore, the government does not have much support at home, and even less during the electoral campaign.

The change of position on the Sahara has been criticized by the opposition, which considers that, as it is a state matter, it should have been previously agreed with Parliament, and has generated misgivings in the socialist ranks themselves.

Margallo is convinced that the new crisis "will also take away the new minister."

Solana believes that "with diplomacy and affection" the waters can still return to their normal course.

Until the next incident.

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Source: elparis

All news articles on 2022-06-12

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