The National Intelligence Center (CNI) informed the Spanish government that the irregular entry of thousands of migrants in Ceuta in May 2021 was part of Morocco’s strategy to pressure Spain to change its position on the Sahara.
The President of the Popular Party (PP), Alberto Núñez Feijóo, met with the Moroccan Prime Minister, Aziz Akhannouch, in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, on the sidelines of the Congress of the European People’s Party. The Spanish leader assured the Moroccan official that he will reverse Pedro Sanchez’s decision on the Sahara if he succeeds him.
Algeria has still not forgiven Spain for changing its position on the Sahara issue. It has taken a new punitive measure against the Iberian peninsula.
Spain and Morocco will soon try to find a solution to the problem of the delimitation of the Canary and Moroccan waters, but also of the waters of the Sahara. Rabat would like to offer contracts to Spanish wind power companies in exchange for control of the airspace of the Sahara, currently managed by Spain.
The vice president and Minister of the Treasury of the Canary Islands, Roman Rodriguez, reiterated the position of the Canarian government on the Sahara, namely the recognition of the right to self-determination, stressing that after the Sahara, Morocco will attack Ceuta and Melilla.
Amar Belani, the special envoy in charge of the Western Sahara issue and the Maghreb countries at the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Community Abroad, responded to the remarks of Omar Hilale, Morocco’s permanent representative to the UN. The latter had responded sharply to his Algerian counterpart Nadir El Arabaoui who had made remarks about the kingdom on the right of the "Sahrawi people to self-determination" during the C24 seminar in Saint Lucia.
Nasser Bourita, Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Residing Abroad, comments on Spain’s change of position on the Sahara . He believes that the Spanish position is part of an international movement.
On the sidelines of the anti-Daesh ministerial meeting held in Marrakech attended by some sixty countries, Morocco received many supports for its autonomy plan in the Sahara. This has irritated Algeria, which denounces a "cacophony of declarations" and accuses it at the same time of having diverted this meeting from "its announced purpose".
While crossing the Sahara in a buggy, a family from Thizy les Bourgs was the victim of a serious accident that cost the lives of the grandparents and their little girl. The Royal Gendarmerie is conducting an investigation to shed light on the circumstances of the accident.
President of the Government Pedro Sánchez finds himself in a delicate situation, after the revelations about the espionage of the President of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Pere Aragonès. The latter threatens to withdraw the support of the Catalan deputies to the government. What would become of Spanish support for Morocco’s autonomy plan for the Sahara if Pedro Sánchez left the executive?
The working group in charge of delimiting the territorial waters between Morocco and Spain will meet in the coming days, in accordance with the agreement reached during Pedro Sanchez’s visit to Rabat on April 7. The issue of the waters of the Sahara remains unresolved.
A diplomatic rift is gradually setting in between Spain and Algeria. The latter has reacted to the statements made by José Manuel Albares, Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, the European Union and Cooperation, in response to the declaration of Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Spain’s change of position on the Sahara.