Spain Declines Participation in US-Morocco ’African Lion’ Military Exercises

Organized by the United States and Africom (US Africa Command), African Lion 2022 will start in the coming days, in Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal and Ghana. As last year, Spain has announced that it will not participate in these military exercises, according to sources from the Ministry of Defense.

Spain had missed last year’s edition, which was supposed to take place among other places in the Sahara, an option that was ultimately excluded by the United States. The choice of the Sahara had been retained a few months after the announcement, in December 2020, of the US recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara.

Morocco attaches particular importance to the military event organized with its American partner. Thus, African Lion 2022 will take place in the regions of Kenitra, Agadir, Tan-Tan, Taroudant, Ben Guerir and Mehbes, near the border with Algeria. But the official Africom website only mentions the Moroccan cities.

More than 7,500 soldiers from Brazil, Chad, France, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Morocco and the United States will participate in these military maneuvers, which are taking place in a context of crisis between Spain and Algeria.