“Today we are entering a new stage in our relationship with Morocco based on mutual respect, respect for agreements, the absence of unilateral actions and transparency and permanent communication,” the Spanish government wrote in a statement. communicated.
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“A new stage” in relations between Spain and Morocco. Madrid and Rabat ended nearly a year of major diplomatic spat over the disputed territory of Western Sahara on Friday (March 18) after a dramatic change in Madrid’s stance, according to Rabat.
“Today we are entering a new stage in our relationship with Morocco based on mutual respect, respect for agreements, the absence of unilateral actions and transparency and permanent communication”the Spanish government wrote in a statement.
This announcement comes after the publication of a press release from the Moroccan royal palace. This document reported a message from Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, stating that Morocco’s “autonomy” plan for Western Sahara was “the most serious, realistic and credible basis for the resolution of the dispute”. The Spanish government does not repeat this message in its press release, but emphasizes that this “step will take place within the framework of a clear and ambitious roadmap as indicated by the press releases of the Government of Morocco”.
Madrid also announces that a visit by Pedro Sanchez to Morocco is scheduled, and that the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, will visit Rabat. “Before the end of the month”.
The conflict in Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony considered a “non-autonomous territory” by the UN, has pitted Morocco against the Sahrawi separatists of the Polisario Front, supported by Algiers, for decades. The diplomatic quarrel between Madrid and Rabat was caused in April 2021 by the reception in Spain of the leader of the Polisario Front Brahim Ghali, to be treated there for Covid-19,