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Rabat – Spain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, expressed his concern over the influx of immigrants arriving to the Canary Islands last Thursday, highlighting the strategic importance of restoring diplomatic relations with Morocco, according to Spanish media.
Albares expressed his concerns over Morocco-Spain relations, stating that the issue is “left behind,” and that restoring relations with Morocco will not be an easy process, reports the same sources.
Speaking before the Spanish Senate Committee for Foreign Affairs, the chief of Spanish diplomacy expressed his hope that Morocco would deploy its efforts to deter immigration toward the Canary Islands.
Other Spanish officials joined the call to restore relations with Morocco. The Canarian Coalition Senator Fernando Clavijo equally stated that Spain should maintain the best possible relations with Morocco, given that the country is a strategic partner in countering illegal immigration in the two Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Mellila.
Read Also: Timeline of Broken Trust Between Morocco and Spain Over Brahim Ghali
Following months of unprecedented tensions over mass migration in Ceuta and Spain’s sheltering of the leader of the separatist Polisario Front, the Spanish embassy has resumed its operations in Rabat. However, Morocco has yet to send its diplomatic representative to Spain.
Spain’s harboring of Polisario’s Brahim Ghali first triggered the diplomatic tensions between the two countries.
As Spain refused to jail the leader of the separatist group, who is accused of multiple war crimes, Morocco considered the move a hostile decision against its territorial integrity.
The separist leader entered Spanish territories after testing positive for COVID-19 to receive medical care with falsified documents.
He then faced multiple fisrt-degree criminal charges, including rape, geneocide, kidnapping, and torture. The Spanish court’s decision to dismiss charges further angered Morocco as Ghali fled back to Algeria.
Spain maintained that the act was a humanitarian action, while Morocco viewed it as undermining the long-standing bilateral relations between the two countries.
Both the Spanish and Moroccan governments have in recent weeks indicated their readiness to mend their damaged partnership.
But recent news of resurfacing disagreements over a number of unsettled territorial disputes have raised questions over the sustainability of the apparent drive to restore bilateral ties.
