Morocco’s ambassador to Spain, Karima Benyaich, returned to her submit in Madrid on Sunday, saying that her nation appreciated the backing that Spain now provides to its proposals to show the Western Saharan space into an autonomous province underneath Moroccan sovereignty.
Chatting with the EFE information company shortly after her arrival within the Spanish capital, Benyaich stated that “a brand new stage, a brand new web page is opening within the relations between each international locations, and it is going to be an vital stage.”
Benyaich was recalled from Madrid in Might final yr amid variations on the difficulty with the Spanish authorities. Madrid had beforehand needed a referendum on the way forward for the previous Spanish colony, which has largely been underneath Moroccan management since 1975, when Spain withdrew.
Algeria, which helps the Polisario Entrance independence motion in Western Sahara, has now in its flip recalled its ambassador to Spain over Madrid’s shift in coverage, calling it an “abrupt U-turn.”
Protests by Sahrawi activists in Spain befell in December 2020, as right here in Granada
Historic turnaround
The territory of Western Sahara, located to the south of Morocco, has been disputed for many years, with the area’s Algeria-backed Polisario Entrance campaigning for independence and the correct to self-determination for the ethnic Saharawi individuals.
On Friday, Spain gave its assist to Moroccan proposals to supply Western Sahara autonomy inside Morocco, going towards its former coverage — shared with most international locations — of advocating an independence referendum for the area.
In response to the Rabat authorities, Spain stated it regarded the proposals to be “critical, credible and reasonable.”
The shift by Spain appears prone to finish a long-running dispute between Madrid and Rabat. In the course of the spat, Benyaich was recalled to Rabat in Might 2021 after Polisario Entrance chief Brahim Gali was handled in a Spanish hospital for COVID-19.
Rabat additionally reacted to Gali’s reception in Spain by permitting upward of 10,000 individuals to cross its border into the Spanish North African enclave of Ceuta, making a humanitarian disaster.
tj/fb (EFE, Reuters, dpa, AP)