Spain’s new position on the Moroccan Sahara issue and the support of the government on Morocco’s proposal to give autonomy to Sahara has generated a new conflict between PSOE and Podemos, the government partners and with the Government and its parliamentary partners. The reconstruction of relations between Spain and Morocco and the way in which the Spanish Government has handled this situation has created a wave of criticism among the opposition parties.
“I understand the criticisms that are made by both analysts, media directors, commentators, critics for not having consulted the opposition on an issue of such great importance for Spain’s foreign policy, for peace and security in the Sahel, which is essential for the entire world. But it is such a question extraordinarily complex and delicate that the negotiations had to be carried out in the most absolute discretion and a leak would have generated a debate that could have derailed the agreement between the two countries”, asserts the Spanish politician and international analyst Gustavo de Arístegui, when talking about Spain’s change of position on Western Sahara in Herrera en COPE.
Gustavo de Arístegui also points out the two sides to that criticism. The risks in consulting the opposition and other partners would have been very high and there is more serious chance of destability in Europe and the Mediterranean in the Maghreb than in the 1970s. There are forces with extraordinary destabilization capacity like the terrorist groups in the Sahel and the Boko Haram who are increasingly attacking targets further north and therefore in this situation, peace, security and stability in the Maghreb is essential. Gustavo also remembers the central role that Algeria has played in the stability of the Maghreb and the sacrifices made by hundreds of thousands of Algerians in the fight against jihadism.
Pedro Sánchez recognizes the serious and sincere efforts of Morocco in the framework of the UN to seek a mutually acceptable solution, and asserts that the initiative to provide autonomy to Sahara is “the most serious and realistic basis” for the resolution of this conflict. This has provoked the indignation of the Government of Algeria that has decided to withdraw its ambassador from Madrid.
Gustavo de Arístegui strongly hopes that Spain and Algeria know how to redirect the situation. “We will have to believe the Foreign Minister when he says that he has fluid contact with his Algerian counterpart, but it does not seem that Algeria could do less than call its ambassador for consultation on a question so important to them for decades. We hope that Spain and Algeria know how to redirect the edges and the tensions that derive from this decision, which I believe is a decision that had to be taken” affirms Gustavo de Arístegui.
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