The warning from the Polisario Front to Spain awakens old geopolitical demons. By evoking a possible threat to the Canary Islands , the Sahrawi separatists are highlighting the expansionist doctrine of the "Great Morocco", born in the 1920s and which continues to shape, in the background, the relations between Rabat and Madrid.
Morocco now claims sovereignty over Mount Tropic, an underwater volcano teeming with critical metals coveted by Spain . This deposit, capable of powering the global electric vehicle industry, is at the heart of a legal quagmire that is currently freezing the exploitation of its riches.
On the eve of the bilateral summit in Madrid, the Polisario Front has issued a severe warning to the Spanish government. The organization claims that the recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara is only a step and that the next target of Rabat’s ambitions will be the Canary Islands archipelago .
On November 10th, the court in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria ordered the Moroccan consulate in the Canary Islands to pay Amir (a pseudonym), a driver for the institution, the sum of 20,000 euros in damages, finding Consul Fatiha El Kamouri guilty of "degrading treatment" and unfair dismissal.
For nearly a decade, Spain and Morocco have been engaged in a silent conflict over Mount Tropic, located under the Atlantic Ocean, south of El Hierro, and containing significant minerals such as cobalt and tellurium, key resources for energy production.
The resolution of the UN Security Council approving the Moroccan autonomy plan for the Sahara as the sole basis for resolving the conflict could motivate Morocco to persist in its claims concerning Ceuta, Melilla, the Spanish islands and rocks. This is at least what a certain Spanish press fears.
A young man was found safe and sound on Thursday, October 2nd after having disappeared at sea in the Canary Islands, off the coast of Morocco, three days earlier while trying to catch up to a jet ski that had come loose from his boat.
The Spanish army is conducting military exercises off the Moroccan coast. These maneuvers called Sinergia 25 would be causing concern in Morocco where they are considered "large-scale military operations".
In reaction to the 6.62% increase in airport taxes announced by Aena, Ryanair has decided to reduce its capacity in Spanish regional airports and turn to Morocco and Italy.
Rental properties in the provinces of the Balearic Islands (29.1%), Alicante (27.4%), Malaga (25.7%), Santa Cruz de Tenerife (21.9%) and Las Palmas (19.2%) have attracted "significant" interest from foreigners, including Moroccans, during the first quarter of this year, according to the latest study by the real estate portal Idealista.
Ona Hotels & Apartments has signed a strategic agreement with Be Live Hotels, the hotel chain of Globalia Corporación Empresarial, to operate several new establishments in Morocco.
Zakaria Loumani, of Moroccan origin, left his country as a teenager to reach the Canary Islands. Now 24 years old, the young man is an accomplished athlete: he has already won the 400m title in the archipelago three times.