Join on WhatsApp 
Join on Telegram Rabat — Spain is facing sharp criticism, with many expressing concerns that repeated diplomatic missteps could again cause a diplomatic crisis with Morocco.
Viral videos show Polisario leader Brahim Ghali flashing a large smile as he poses with Yolanda Diaz, who serves as Spain’s second deputy prime minister and labor minister.
Pro-Polisario activists, as well as Polisario and Algeria affiliated media targeting Morocco’s diplomatic gains also claimed that Spanish King Felipe VI greeted Brahim Ghali during the inauguration of Uruguay’s new leftist president on Saturday.
Brahim Ghali’s appearance next to Yolanda Diaz comes as no surprise as the minister is known for her hostile remarks and approach against Morocco.
Last year in April, Diaz described Morocco as a “dictatorship country.”
Diaz, who is from the new far-left coalition Sumar, said that she will “certainly repudiate” all the agreements Morocco and Spain signed in recent months if she is ever elected as Prime Minister.
The reports of King Felipe VI greeting the Polisario leader, however, could re-ignite a new episode of tensions between Rabat and Madrid.
While some expressed concerns about the photos, others suggested they hold no political significance.
Paulino Ros, a journalist and professor of sociology in Murcia told Morocco World News (MWN) that the photos “have no significance whatsoever, Spain’s stance has not changed and is in line with Morocco’s Sahara position.”
For Ros, pro-Polisario activists documented and used the photos in an attempted maneuver against Spain-Morocco ties.
“The people who appear there are in full political decline, they have used the king of Spain to try to stand out, but they do not succeed because their time is up,” the journalist added.
Timeline of tensions
The Spanish government is well aware of the importance of the Western Sahara dossier for Morocco. The North African country showed a strong position against Spain’s unilateral decision to host the Polisario leader for hospitalization in April 2021.
Ghali traveled to Spain using a fake name — Mohammed Ben Battouch — to avoid arrest. He he has been wanted in Spain for war crimes, terrorism, and kidnapping lawsuits filed by Spanish families and Sahrawis who were subject to torture in the Polisario-controlled Tindouf camps run by the Algerian regime.
Sanchez’ government did not bother to notify Morocco, one of its main trade partners, about its arrangement with Algeria on Ghali’s travel plan.
It was not until April 23, 2021 when former Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya decided to make the news public, stating that Ghali was transferred to Spain for “purely humanitarian reasons in order to receive health care.”
Morocco’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded on Spain’s unilateral decision by summoning Madrid’s ambassador in Rabat for consultation.
Rabat expressed disappointment with Marid, saying that the hospitalization of Ghali is against the “spirit of partnership and good neighborliness and which concerns a fundamental use for the Moroccan people and its vital forces.”
Since then, the two countries experienced deteriorating tensions, which resulted in Spain trying to open dialogue with the North African country to mend bilateral ties.
It was not until March 2022 that ties between the two countries restored normalcy, when Spain took a historic decision to officially endorse Morocco’s Autonomy Plan as the most serious and credible political solution to end the dispute over Western Sahara.
The announcement also followed a trip by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to Morocco, where he met with King Mohammed VI.
However, their relationship is not fully out of stormy waters, especially after the Spanish media’s campaign targeting Morocco for slow customs reopening between the two countries, in which they accused the North African country of making obstacles.
Last month, however, Spain’s Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska strongly rejected the claims, saying: “What I make clear is that the degree of Spanish-Moroccan cooperation and collaboration is manifestly important, relevant, and of the utmost loyalty and reliability.”
Similar remarks have been made by Spanish government officials, including Pedro Sanchez.
However, Spain has made other diplomatic blunders. In December 2024, Sanchez ignited controversy after appearing in front of a divided Moroccan map during his Christmas message. This raised questions about Spain’s actual position on the Sahara dispute.
The divided map, which omits Morocco’s southern provinces, is against the country’s territorial integrity and contradicts the 2022 Morocco-Spain agreement, which resolved the year-long crisis between the two countries.
It remains to be seen whether the Spanish government will reject the claims promoted by pro-Polisario activists or this will be another episode of diplomatic crisis between Rabat and Madrid.
