Spain vs. Morocco

In the spirit of me having to be at the airport in about 4.5 hours (it's 11:42 pm) to catch a flight to Tangier, Morocco with SU abroad, I figured it would be rather appropriate to write a little about Spanish conflict with Morocco. I had no idea this even existed until I saw an article pop up on my Publico news feed. When I googled the term "Spain denies Morocco" quite a few links came up talking about past conflicts between the governments, so I read a little into it.

From what I could understand, there is a lot of violence and attacks going on in Morocco. There is currently what is being referred to as a "state of terror" in Laayoune, Morocco due to all the violence and killings. There has dispute among whether or not Morocco had sovereignty over the Western Sahara. In 1975, colonial Spain had withdrew it's power from Rabat, Morocco, leaving the territory to Rabat rule. However recently, the Spanish deny that they had ever declared Morocco in control of the Western Sahara. A quote from a Polisario Front representative, talking about the issues currently in Morocco reads: (rough translation)

"First, Spain is directly responsible. According to former legal adviser to the United Nations, Hans Corel, Morocco, not contained in documents available to the UN, or as a colonial power or as the manager of the Sahara, but as an occupying country. Therefore, Spain remains the responsible power until the end of the decolonization process."

It is hard to tell what side Publico is taking in this case. If the denial of Spain were coming directly from Zapatero, I would say that they were mocking him for taking back something he had said. However, the article is a bit unclear. What I did get from the article is that Morocco, or this representative atleast, wants Spain to finish the decolonization process that they started.


Seeing this for the first time was a surprise to me. I don't often see stories of Spanish conflict with other countries in publico, and I am wondering if it holds much weight in other Spanish newspapers. It is definitely something I would like to know more about. U.S. publications weigh heavily on politics and international relations. Although I have learned a lot about Spain in my time here, I really couldn't pin point anything I'd heard as far as conflict with other countries or territories prior to seeing this article.