Spain’s Foreign Minister: Polisario Leader’s Reception Was Humanitarian, Not Aimed at Morocco Conflict

"We never wanted a conflict. We never sought it. We never wanted it. And we certainly don’t fuel it. What we want, and this is what I conveyed to the ambassador (Karima Benyaich), is to look to the future. We want to work together so that another crisis does not recur. So that those who entered Spain illegally return to Morocco, as is already the case," the minister explained to La Razon, before adding: "we did not create this conflict and we do not want to maintain it. And we will continue to work in this direction." Because Spain "wants to have a mature relationship with Morocco, even when there are disagreements."

"What happened is the rejection by our Moroccan neighbor of a humanitarian gesture that we made in favor of a person seriously ill with Covid, which triggered a unilateral response in the form of a migration crisis," the minister said, before continuing: "Spain has a humanitarian tradition, we have never hidden it. Morocco too, by the way. It has also welcomed African leaders in its country. And it has always done so in respect of its humanitarian tradition. Spain too." Thus, Spain has not changed its position on the Western Sahara issue, but has just helped.

Has Madrid been informed by Washington of its decision to recognize Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara? Nothing like that. "We respect our neighbor and we respect the United States. We will always respect American decisions, but we also want ours to be respected." Moreover, "it is not up to Spain to say what the solution to the Western Sahara conflict should be. We have said that any solution found between the parties to this conflict will have our approval. We are not in favor of any solution. There are some interesting solutions on the table and we think it is important to explore them. But it is not up to Spain to say what the solution is. And we therefore want this position to be respected," she specified.