When the US Deputy Secretary of State, Wendy Shermanfinished in Rabat his appointment with Nasser BouritaMoroccan Foreign Minister, spoke to the local press about the future of the Occidental Sahara: “We continue to consider Morocco’s autonomy plan as serious, credible and realistic“. It was the afternoon of Tuesday, March 8. Those three qualifiers that the Moroccan agency MAP transcribed from the mouth of the diplomatic number two of Washington They are the same three adjectives that, ten days later and in the same order, the head of Spanish diplomacy pronounced, Jose Manuel Albaresbefore the media: Morocco’s autonomy plan is “the most serious, credible and realistic for the resolution of this dispute.
The woman who was visiting Rabat that Tuesday is one of the prominent figures in the North American Democratic environment and in the orbit of Joe Biden. She is a former counselor bill clintoncollaborator of Madeleine Albright in the Secretary of State in the period prior to 9/11, supervisor of the policy towards North Korea, participant in the nuclear conflict with Iran… Her presence in the Moroccan capital, in the midst of world tension over the aggression against Ukraine, has been part of a parallel and somewhat unnoticed chronology of acts and scenes before Spain confirmed the abandonment of its traditional position on its former Saharan colony.
Monday March 7Wendy Sherman had been in Madrid and had met with Minister Albares. The occasion was a bilateral seminar – described by Foreign Affairs as “high level” – on cybersecurity at the Ministry’s headquarters. was also Sherman’s first visit to Spain. And to talk about something other than cybersecurity, he met with the head of Foreign Affairs with three notes on the agenda: the crisis in Ukraine, the NATO summit in Madrid and the state of bilateral relations between Spain and the United States.
Tuesday March 8, Sherman traveled to Rabat. The occasion was Morocco-USA Strategic Dialogue, forum so called by both administrations. At the end of the meeting, Sherman not only dedicated words to the Sahara; as well
In Melilla, police chiefs expected “something important & rdquor; from Morocco
spoke of an increase in military cooperation with the Alawite kingdom, after stressing that Morocco has already participated in 100 joint exercises with the United States a year. On this occasion, he confirmed the preparations for new and enormous multinational military maneuvers in the north of the Sahara: the African Lion 2022. In the 2021 edition, contrary to custom, the Spanish army was absent after Morocco tried -unsuccessfully- to uncomfortable detail that part of the exercises took place in Saharawi territory. The Pentagon had to deny it.
Tuesday March 15During a meal in the autonomous city, a group of police officers from Melilla received a reassuring message from a local State security authority who happened to be at the restaurant: “A stage of more calm to the fence”. It was 12 days since the most massive assault of immigrants to that border, 2,500, with a balance of 53 wounded agents on the Spanish side, more than 60 Sub-Saharans with bruises and 500 who crossed, candidates for immediate return. That same week, a police officer told business operators in the city that “something important” is expected from Morocco.
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Friday March 18between 6 and 6:30 p.m., the Foreign Minister held a telephone conversation with the president of the autonomous city of Ceuta, John Jesus Alive. In the conversation, according to Ceuta government sources, Albares emphasizes the territorial integrity of Spain. Vivas, veteran leader of the PP -and very in contact with Moncloa since the migratory barrage of May 2021-, celebrates wherever they ask him about the Government’s initiative. He maintains that with this he does not deviate from the criticism of the leader in chest, Alberto Nunez-Feijoo. “I see no contradiction between my positive assessment and the position of the president of Galicia,” he said on Monday on Ceuta television. “It is important for the tranquility and prosperity of the people of Ceuta that Morocco respects territorial integrity,” he explained. Vivas breaks down “politically relevant events”, such as the visit of Pedro Sanchez to Ceuta in May, the resolution of the European Parliament in June indicating Ceuta and Melilla as European borders, and the review of the two cities as points of special attention in the National Security Strategy approved in December.
The same March 18when Albares confirmed the content of Sánchez’s letter revealed by Rabat, the White House announced the appointment of a new ambassador to Morocco. Puneet Alwar happens to businessman David Fisher, who had left Rabat in January 2021. An expert in Defense Policy and foreign military missions of the United States, Alwar was the main player in the negotiation with Iran to stop its nuclear expansion. It is a key appointment for State Security sources, who see it aimed at ending the conflict with the Polisario and establishing the Sahel-Atlantic-Libya security cushion for which Morocco functions as the glacis of Europe.