The Saharawi separatists of the Polisario Front announced in a press release on Saturday evening that they were suspending all contact with the Spanish government of Pedro Sanchez. This decision comes after Madrid’s reversal in favor of the Moroccan position on the Western Sahara issue, less than a month ago.
After 37 years of privileged relations between the Saharawi separatists and Spain, it’s a break. ” The Polisario Front decides to suspend its contacts with the current Spanish government “, following the change of position deemed ” unilateral and illegal from Madrid on the question of Western Sahara, reads its press release.
On March 18, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez had indeed proceeded to a historic turn by publicly supporting the Moroccan autonomy plan for Western Sahara. This plan, believes the Polisario Front, “ aims to legitimize the annexation by force of the territories of Western Sahara and, therefore, to confiscate the inalienable rights of the Saharawi people to self-determination “.
The statement accuses Spain of instrumentalize the Sahrawi cause, within the framework of its bargaining and transactions with Morocco. An allusion to the immigration file which poisoned relations between Madrid and Rabat last year and which Pedro Sanchez hopes to appease by normalizing his relations with Morocco. Last Thursday, he was received with honors by the sovereign Sharifian Mohamed VI.