The tension between Morocco and Spain is far from easing since the reception in an Iberian clinic of the leader of the Polisario front, as Rabat has taken new steps.
What’s going on between Morocco and Spain? The Moroccan Kingdom decided on Tuesday, May 18, to recall its ambassador to Spain, Ms. Karima Benyaich “for consultation”, a diplomatic source told APA.
This measure comes against the backdrop of strained relations between Rabat and Madrid after the reception by Spain, on its territory and under a false identity, of the leader of the Polisario front, Brahim Ghali, who is prosecuted by Spanish courts for war crimes and gross of human rights violations on Moroccan citizens.
In a press release dated April 25, the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs had already expressed “its disappointment with regard to this act, which is contrary to the spirit of partnership and good neighborliness, and which deals with a fundamental issue for the Moroccan people.”
On May 8, another press release from Moroccan diplomats indicated that “since Spain received on its territory the leader of the “Polisario” militias, accused of war crimes and flagrant violations of human rights, Spanish officials have made a series of declarations attempting to justify this serious act that undermines the spirit of partnership and good neighborliness.”
In an interview with the Europa Press Agency, the Moroccan ambassador to Spain, Karima Benyaich, assured that in the relations between countries, there are acts which have consequences, and “we must assume them.”
According to Ms. Benyaich, there are “attitudes which cannot be accepted,” in reference to the decision of the government of Pedro Sanchez to accept for treatment, the head of the Polisario, supported and funded by Algeria.
Since Monday, May 17, more than 6,000 migrants have entered Ceuta by swimming or on foot and the Spanish authorities have announced that they have expelled 2,700 of them.
The evening before, 86 migrants, out of a total of more than 300, entered Melilla, the other enclave occupied by Madrid on Morocco’s Mediterranean coast.
Spanish voices are starting to point fingers at Morocco, suggesting that Moroccan authorities have been indifferent to migrants’ attempts to enter the Spanish city of Ceuta.
HA/LOS/fss/abj/APA