Spanish Analyst: Spain Ridiculed Itself in Brahim Ghali Case

A Spanish political analyst has said that Spain provoked Morocco and ridiculed itself by opening its doors to Polisario leader Brahim Ghali.

In an article published on Saturday by Spanish publication La Razon, Eduardo Inda, a political scientist and former editor-in-chief of Spanish outlets El Mundo and Marca, said that Spain’s welcoming of Ghali despite its strategic relations with Morocco was a “senseless” and “amateurish” move.

Inda went on to describe Spain’s ensuing attitude – not notifying Morocco and later dismissing Morocco’s protests after news of Ghali’s hospitalization in Madrid forced the Spanish government to admit to hosting the Polisario chief — as an act of “global ridicule.”

Behaving like Madrid has done in recent weeks towards Rabat, a reliable and strategic partner, is bad PR for Spain’s reputation as an ally, Inda appeared to argue. He noted that Ghali is facing many criminal charges, including rape, torture, and forced disapperance, and that he has long been a subject of pending court cases in Spain.

“This is a geostrategic mistake,” Inda argued, stressing that the centrality of Western Sahara for Morocco and the North African country’s strategic position as “perhaps the most important country for Spain” meant that Madrid’s “absurd” attitude would have consequences.

According to the Spanish analyst, however, the Ghali incident was only the latest confirmation of the current Spanish government’s apparent willingness to sideline a long-running Spanish diplomatic tradition when it comes to Morocco.

He blamed Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez for sustaining the growing impression that Spain takes its relationship with Morocco for granted and has not been doing enough to preserve it. For example, he noted, Sanchez broke with a long-standing tradition by not making Morocco the first country to visit after his election as Prime Minister.

For Inda, such an inconsiderate sidelining of a symbolic but crucial tradition in Spain-Morocco ties ultimately alarmed “our southern neighbor,” while the other decision that followed ultimately made Morocco question Madrid’s reliability as a partner. This “crisis is costing us dearly,” he said, referring to the recent events in Ceuta.

The Spanish analyst’s comments come amid increasing tensions and widening political divergences between Rabat and Madrid. Following this week’s sudden migratory crisis in Ceuta, Spanish politicians and media have adopted a very harsh tone and accused Morocco of using migration as a “weapon” to “blackmail” the Spanish government.

In response, Moroccan officials have rebuked Spain’s accusations and said that the situation between the two countries will not improve until Madrid satisfies Morocco’s demands in the Ghali case.

Shrugging off the prevailing Spanish discourse on the Ceuta crisis, Moroccan Foreign Affairs Minister Nasser Bourita said this week that Morocco does not need to be “graded by Spain nor its media.” Bourita added, perhaps more significantly: “The events in the past few days have shown that 99% of the efforts in the fight are being made by Morocco against ‘nothing on the other side.’”