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Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visits Morocco on Thursday, after Madrid reversed decades of policy on the Western Sahara to end a year-long diplomatic crisis, a U-turn that has angered Algeria.
The landmark visit will see King Mohammed VI welcome Sanchez as his guest of honour for iftar, the meal where Muslims break their daytime fast during the holy month of Ramadan.
The visit by Sanchez and his foreign minister, Jose Manuel Albares, aims to draw a line under a major stand-off between the two kingdoms.
The crisis began a year ago when Madrid allowed Brahim Ghali, leader of the Polisario Front which seeks independence for the territory of Western Sahara, to be treated for Covid-19 in a Spanish hospital.
Morocco sees the desert territory as an integral part of the kingdom and a highly sensitive issue of security and national pride.
The area is mostly desert but boasts rich Atlantic fishing waters, phosphate resources and a route to lucrative markets in West Africa.
Morocco fought a bitter war with the Polisario after Spanish colonial forces withdrew in 1975.
Weeks after Ghali’s hospitalisation, more than 10,000 migrants surged into Spain’s tiny North African enclave of Ceuta as Moroccan border forces looked the other way, in an incident seen as meant to punish Madrid.
On March 18, Madrid announced a “new stage” in relations with Rabat and said it now backed the North African kingdom’s plan for the territory: limited autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty.
‘Ambitious road map’
The move was widely seen as a victory for Morocco.
It infuriated its regional rival Algeria, which has long backed the Polisario — and which is a major supplier of natural gas to Spain.
Algiers last month recalled its ambassador from Madrid in protest at the decision, and Algeria’s state-owned energy giant Sonatrach warned Friday it could increase…
Source : france24
