The history of Spanish-Moroccan relations has been defined as one of mutual interests and guarded suspicion. Morocco and Spain maintain extensive diplomatic, commercial, and military ties.
The Spanish exclave of Ceuta. Source: Wikimedia Commons
The Morocco-Spain border separates the plazas de soberanía (including Melilla and Ceuta) on the Mediterranean coast from the Moroccan mainland. Geographical proximity, added to the presence of a large Moroccan community in Spain (more than 800,000 people), the per capita income differential (30,090 euros compared to 3,930 euros in 2021, according to the IMF) and political, demographic and cultural differences, provide fertile ground for divergences and frictions.
Early Interactions and Conflicts
Taking advantage of the disputes related to the struggle for control in the Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania, the Umayyad Caliphate army led by Táriq ibn Ziyad crossed the Strait of Gibraltar in 711. This gave way to the Islamic conquest of the Iberian Peninsula. In the years to come, the Christian rulers fought or established political or commercial relations with the Muslim rulers, gaining control over the Iberian peninsula.
As the Spanish and Portuguese empires divided the world by the Treaty of Tordesillas (1492), these kingdoms established cities on the Moroccan coast such Melilla (1497) by the Spanish or Ceuta (1415), Mazagan (1502) and Casablanca (1515) by the Portuguese. Blamed for collaborating with the Regency of Algiers (Ottoman empire) and the Barbary pirates which raided the spanish coasts and trading vessels for goods and slaves, some 40,000 Moriscos arrived to Morocco after their final expulsion in 1609.
Read also: Morocco-Spain Travel Tips
During the wars between Spain and the regency of Algiers, the cherifien empire sieged the Spanish city of Ceuta on several occasions during the late 17th century and the 18th century with help from the Kingdom of Great Britain. Also, Spain occupied Tétouan from 1859 to 1862 according to the Treaty of Wad Ras (1860), after Abd al-Rahman found himself unable to control the moroccan tribes which raided Ceuta´s hinterland. As a result, Melilla´s perimeter was also broadened and the sultan recognized the Spanish right to establish a fishing port in Santa Cruz de la Mar Pequeña (a territory of uncertain location by that time) identified then where Sidi Ifni now stands.
In the 1860 battle of Tetuan, the Mellah, or Jewish quarter, of Tetuan was sacked. This was followed by appeals in the European Jewish press to support Jewish communities like the one in Tetuan, leading to an international effort called The Morocco Relief Fund, in English.
In the wake of the visit of a Spanish delegation to Fez in 1877, a joint Hispano-Moroccan committee was created to determine the location of the territory of Santa Cruz de la Mar Pequeña, retroceded in the 1860 Treaty of Wad Ras. This committee eventually misidentified Santa Cruz de la Mar Pequeña with Ifni, actually located about 480 kilometers (298 mi) north of the real fortress.
The Spanish Protectorate
Then, during the contemporary age of colonialism, the Spanish Europeans resumed their colonization of Morocco. Until independence, Morocco would be partitioned by Spain in its north and south, divided by the French protectorate.
The work The Spanish Protectorate in Morocco: the transcended history, sponsored by Iberdrola to mark the centenary of the establishment of the Spanish Protectorate in Morocco, sets out to analyse and explain this important period between 1912 and 1956. The work's aim is to explain the most significant period of Spain's presence in northern Africa.
Read also: Cruise Itinerary: Spain, Portugal, Morocco
Map of the Spanish Protectorate in Morocco. Source: Wikimedia Commons
Recent Developments and Diplomatic Tensions
Moroccan-Spanish relations have improved dramatically in recent years. Under consecutive governments led by the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party, the vastly improved Spanish-Moroccan relations translated into positive economic and cultural partnerships.
After entering Spain under a false name to be treated for COVID-related complications, the separatist leader Ibrahim Ghali sparked a fresh conflict between Morocco and Spain. Morocco did not receive prior notification of Spain’s decision to allow Ghali into the country. As a result of this major diplomatic step, Morocco and Spain have likely entered a new phase of bilateral ties.
Spain has devoted a great diplomatic effort to its relationship with Morocco. However, during the last few years, Spanish-Moroccan relations have followed a love-hate patron saint that has given as result a movement ranging from displays of friendship and good neighborliness to situations of high tension.
It all starts in April 2021 due to the hospitalization in Logroño, Spain, of Brahim Ghali, the highest representative of the Polisario Front, the Saharawi independence movement. Following this event, Spain-Morocco diplomatic relations deteriorated to the point that the North African country decided to reduce supervision and security control at the border with Ceuta, thus allowing thousands of migrants from Morocco to access the Spanish city, mostly in very precarious conditions. An estimated 12,000 people, including many teenagers, crossed the border illegally.
Read also: Explore Spain, Portugal, and Morocco
On 17 May 2021, approximately 8,000 migrants crossed the Moroccan-Spanish border into Ceuta and Melilla passing around the jetties of Benzú and El Tarajal, after Moroccan security forces lessened control mechanisms following the hospitalization of Brahim Ghali in Spain. The Spanish military was deployed at the border to stop the influx. Morocco's actions were rejected by various officials of the European Union.
The Western Sahara issue is a fundamental piece in Morocco's power game, as well as the main point of dispute with Spain, at least until March 2022. Perhaps the most significant gesture in the recent history of the conflict has been the one made by the Prime Minister of Spain (still considered as an administering power by the UN) in March 2022.
On 14 March 2022, Sánchez sent a letter to King Mohammed VI backing Morocco's Western Sahara Autonomy Proposal. This was a change in the official position about self-determination as the solution to the Western Sahara conflict. His decision was criticized by Unidas Podemos and the Spanish opposition.
In a letter sent to the King of Morocco, Pedro Sanchez endorsed Rabat's autonomy proposal and abandoned Spain's historic position on the Western Sahara conflict, which consisted of supporting self-determination under the terms established by the United Nations. This occurred in parallel to the Spanish shipment of arms to Ukraine and to the signs of support and solidarity with the Ukrainian people shown by the Madrid government after the Russian invasion of its territory, in what can be interpreted as a contradictory position to that maintained in the case of Western Sahara, also a victim of an occupation -that of Morocco- since 1975, when it ceased to be a Spanish province.
Recently, in an interview with Al Jazeera, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune made it very clear that relations with Morocco had reached a "point of no return", blaming Morocco for this. In the interview, Tebboune also criticized Spain, which he accused of being biased towards Morocco and stated that it still has the responsibility to solve the Western Sahara problem due to its past as a colonial power.
According to the 2021 INE statistics, Moroccans are the largest immigration community in Spain with 930,221 citizens residing in the country.
Economic Factors and Future Outlook
Spain, the fourth-largest country in Europe, is in need of all the economic and political help it can get to turn around a stubborn recession. With a bleak economic situation, a tense political climate and months of social unrest, King Juan Carlos came to Morocco asking for “support”.
With 19,000 Spanish companies present in Morocco and millions of Euros in revenues, Madrid, quietly and astutely, aligned itself behind Rabat. Promoting his country’s businesses in Morocco during the visit, the Spanish Monarch stated that “We have before us the possibility to generate growth and employment if we know how to maximise the potential of our strategic association, facing the challenges, strengthening our dialogue in the economic sphere and providing a response to the opportunities that globalization offers."
Morocco's Tanger Med port will pose competition that concerns Spanish ports. Both countries have shared interests in counterterrorism and counternarcotics. Morocco notably assisted Spanish authorities in the investigation of the 2004 bombings in Madrid and this relationship continues.
Two features that have traditionally characterized relations between Spain and Morocco are their complexity and frequent ups and downs. Spain is the only European country with a territorial presence in North Africa and, consequently, with a land border with Morocco. Therefore, the relations between both countries are very important not only at a national level but also within the European framework .
Knowing the risks we face is the difference between being able to anticipate and manage a crisis or being exposed to the consequences of not understanding its importance and scope.
Why is Spain backing Morocco’s claim to the Western Sahara?
Popular articles:
tags: #Morocco
