Burita accuses those who defend Sahara’s self -determination of wanting to perpetuate the conflict | Spain

The Foreign Minister of Morocco, Naser Burita, has defended this Thursday in Madrid the Moroccan Autonomy Plan for the Western Sahara, ensuring that those who support “old positions” and insist on claiming a self -determination referendum “do not want a solution” and seek to “keep another 50 years” to the Saharawal refugees in the Camples of the Algerian desert. Burita has made a closed defense of Rabat’s proposal about the Spanish ex -colonia in a joint appearance with her Spanish counterpart, José Manuel Albares, in which questions have not been admitted. The Head of Moroccan diplomacy has assured that the support of the Spanish Government to Rabat’s proposal is not an isolated event, since « it is in parallel to that of the international community » and is shared by more than 22 countries of the European Union.

The two ministers have met in a surprise meeting that did not appear on the public agenda of Albares and that was announced on Wednesday afternoon through a statement from the Spanish Foreign Ministry. The objective of the meeting was to review the fulfillment of the roadmap agreed during the visit to Rabat held three years ago, In April 2022, by President Pedro Sánchez which ended the open diplomatic crisis after the arrival in Spain of the Leader of the Polisario Front, Brahim Gali, to receive medical treatment. Both Albares and Burita have congratulated the good condition of bilateral relations and have agreed that they are in their « best historical moment. » The first has announced the next celebration in Spain of the High Level (RAN) meeting between the two countries, although it has not given date for it, while the second has insisted that, although the differences are maintained in some matters, they are now approached with a positive spirit. « Before there were periodic crises (because) there was not so much confidence and communication channels » between both governments, he stressed.

According to Albares, the commitments made between Sánchez and King Mohamed VI « are still fulfilled at a good pace. » The recent opening of the commercial customs of Ceuta and Melilla is an « excellent news » and the cooperative matters between the two countries is obtaining « good results, » he said. Both have stressed that Spain is the first supplier of Morocco and Morocco the first of Spain outside the EU, with commercial exchanges that exceeded 23,000 million euros last year.

The interview, which has been followed by a lunch, has occurred in the context of a reinforcement of the Moroccan position over the Sahara after the reall of the Trump administration and the French government, which have supported their autonomy plan for the Spanish excolonia presenting it as the only way to resolve the conflict, discarding the self -determination referendum claimed by the polisar United Albares has repeated the terms of The letter that Pedro Sánchez sent to Mohamed VI in March 2022, in which he described the Moroccan Autonomy Plan as « the most serious, credible and realistic base for the resolution of this difference »; although without excluding others. Burita has not expressly asked him to go further, as Washington or Paris have done, and thanked that Albares gives him « a good opportunity » to find a solution for the conflict « within the United Nations bosom and respecting the sovereignty of the kingdom of Morocco. »

Last Monday, Burita met in Paris with her French counterpart, Jean-Nöel Barrot. After the meeting, Quai d’Orsay released a statement in which he assured that the Moroccan Autonomy Plan « is the only basis for reaching a fair, lasting and negotiated political solution according to the resolutions of the United Nations » of the contentious about the Spanish ex -colonia. They are the same words used by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in the letter that referred to King Mohamed VI on July 30 And that explained the turn of the French position over the Sahara, one step further than that of Spain in its alignment with Rabat. This turn has meant the opening of a diplomatic crisis between France and Algeria, as happened to Spain.

As Burita said in statements to the press, the support of Paris is not limited only to words, but is being materialized with facts, such as the change of the official French map to include the Sahara in the Moroccan state, the visits of high French positions to the excolonia or the next celebration « in the southern regions » of a meeting organized by the Foreign Ministries of the two countries. The official French statement, meanwhile, includes « France’s commitment to accompany the efforts of Morocco in favor of the economic and social development of these regions for the benefit of local populations. »

On April 8, Burita was received in Washington by the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, who reiterated the support of the Trump administration to Rabat. Rubio stressed that the United States supports « the serious, credible and realistic autonomy proposal of Morocco as the only basis for a fair and lasting solution of the dispute. » Trump already supported the Moroccan condition of Sahara in December 2020after losing the elections to the Democrat Joe Biden, in exchange for the normalization of Morocco’s relations with Israel.

This is the first visit of the Head of Moroccan diplomacy to Madrid since November 2019, when he met with his then counterpart, Josep Borrell. On the contrary, Albares has traveled to Rabat several times after the closing of the diplomatic crisis, the last one in February 2024, accompanying the president of the Government, Pedro Sánchez.