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Rabat – After almost a year of absence due to simmering diplomatic tensions between Madrid and Rabat, Morocco’s Ambassador to Spain, Karima Benyaich, has returned to Madrid to resume her duties as Morocco’s representative in the European country.
The Spanish news agency broke the news, quoting Benyaich as saying shortly after her flight landed in the Spanish capital: “It is a pleasure to return to work in Madrid and strengthen relations between Spain and Morocco, as our respective countries have determined.”
News of the Moroccan ambassador’s return to Madrid comes two days after Spain officially announced that it now supports Morocco’s stance on the Western Sahara conflict.
In a letter to Morocco’s King Mohammed VI on Friday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said that his country’s endorsement of Morocco’s Autonomy Plan was an indication of a desire to maintain good relations with a strong and reliable ally.
The letter described Morocco’s Autonomy Plan as “the most serious and credible basis” to reach a permanent solution to the Western Sahara conflict, signaling a decisive shift in Spain’s position on the conflict.
Sanchez renewed that sentiment in another message to King Mohammed VI today.
“Spain considers the Moroccan autonomy initiative, presented in 2007, as the most serious, realistic, and credible basis for resolving the dispute,” he said, noting Morocco’s extensive efforts to work within the UN’s framework to reach a realistic solution to the conflict.
Again pointing to Spain’s readiness to maintain good relations with Morocco, the Spanish head of government argued that the “two countries are inextricably linked by affections, history, geography, interests and a shared friendship.”
“Our goal is to build a new relationship,” the letter explained. “Transparency and permanent communication, mutual respect and the agreements signed by both parties and refraining from any unilateral action, living up to the importance of everything we share.”
The positive reversal in Spanish-Moroccan relations comes after a relatively long period of rising tensions between the two countries.
While intermittent divergences have long marked the two countries’ friendship, the most serious diplomatic wedge between them started in April 2021 after reports emerged of Spain hosting Brahim Ghali, the leader of the separatist Polisario Front.
Rabat described the move as a “betrayal” and an unconscionable breach of trust and diplomatic reciprocity, recalling its ambassadors from Madrid for consultations. With the Moroccan envoy now returning to the Spanish capital, the two countries hope to finally open a new page in their relationship.
Read Also: Moroccan-Spanish Relations Timeline: A Long History of Ups and Downs
