Morocco Recalls Ambassador as Migrant Crisis Strains Relations with Spain

Relations between Spain and Morocco have deteriorated again. Even if Arancha González Laya, Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of Spain rules out any link between the disagreement with Rabat on the hospitalization of Brahim Ghali, the leader of the Polisario in a hospital in Logroño, near Zaragoza, under a false identity for "humanitarian reasons" and the massive influx of migrants to Ceuta, the statements of the Moroccan ambassador to Spain, Karima Benyaich prove the opposite. She was summoned by the Spanish Foreign Minister, reports the Spanish newspaper El Mundo.

"There are acts that have consequences and that must be assumed," said the Moroccan diplomat, a few hours before her summons by Arancha Gonzalez Laya. "There are attitudes that cannot be accepted," she hammered. According to her, relations between Rabat and Madrid must be based on "mutual trust, which must be worked on and maintained".

Morocco has decided to recall the Moroccan diplomat. "The ambassador has been recalled for consultation and is returning to Morocco immediately," the spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told AFP.