Spain’s Sahara Policy Shift: Sanchez’s Letter to Morocco’s King Crafted in French

The governments of Madrid and Rabat jointly drafted each paragraph of this letter, which put an end to the serious diplomatic crisis between the two countries, which had been open for 10 months. The initial text was written in French, then translated into Spanish after being approved by both parties, El Pais reports, specifying that Pedro Sanchez officially sent the letter to Mohammed VI on March 14, but it was only made public on March 18 by the Moroccan royal cabinet through a press release, and then confirmed by the Spanish Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, at a press conference.

Morocco had adopted the same attitude with Germany in January, by publishing the letter addressed to the Moroccan monarch by the German President, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in which he supported the Moroccan autonomy plan for the Sahara, which allowed the normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries, which had been strained since March.

Spain’s change of position came after the visit to Madrid on March 7 of US Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, who, officially, had come to launch a cybersecurity seminar, but would have exchanged with Albares on Morocco in connection with the Sahara. The next day, the American diplomat had gone to Rabat where she had also met Nasser Bourita.