Algeria Criticizes Spanish PM’s Morocco Visit Amid Western Sahara Dispute

"Regarding this hasty visit to Rabat, it is clear that the Moroccan monarch has hastened to throw a lifeline to Pedro Sanchez, who has found himself extremely isolated on the domestic political scene and whose government rightly fears some painful decisions that could be taken by Algeria as part of a comprehensive response to this opportunistic turnaround [...] ", declared a senior Algerian official in an interview with TSA.

According to him, this visit really did not meet the expectations of the President of the Spanish Government. "Beyond the few measures announced in the joint declaration that sanctioned Pedro Sanchez’s visit to Rabat (movement of people, migration, maritime links, etc.), it must be known that it is the status of the two enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla that was at the heart of the strategic calculations of the head of the Spanish government. But on this decisive point, he obtained nothing," explained the senior Algerian official, stating that the Moroccans categorically refused any mention, even implicit, of respect for the "territorial integrity" of Spain.

"Ultimately, Pedro Sanchez’s Spain has lost its soul for a mess of pottage and the Makhzen [...], will come back, sooner or later, to the charge on the two presidencies that it considers to be a ’national cause’ just like the Western Sahara [...]," he concluded.