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An Africa map published by the Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister has stirred yet another controvery between Spain and the Polisario Front. Abdellah Al Ourabi, the Front’s representative in Spain, criticized Foreign minister Arancha Gonzales for the map she published on the Africa Day. The latter featured the flags of all African countries and did not include the flag of the Polisario.
In a letter sent to the North Africa department at the Spanish Foreign Ministry, Al Ourabi said that «the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is a founding member of the African Union». According to him, publishing the map «was provoking not only to the Sahrawi state but also to the entire African continent and it must be corrected».
Moreover, he accused Spain of «trying to change the international system of another continent» and «undermining good neighborly relations».
In addition to publishing the Africa map, that angered the separatist movement, the Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister excluded the Polisario from a video meeting held with the ambassadors of African countries in Spain.
The Africa Day and Algeria
This comes as the Spanish government has been getting closer to Morocco. On September 25, 2019, the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in an address at the United Nations General Assembly that the «Spanish government wants to contribute to the efforts of the United Nations Secretary-General in order to reach a lasting and acceptable political solution for the two parts».
During her trip to Algeria on March 3, the Spanish Foreign minister followed the same path, saying that her country «supports the efforts of the UN Secretary-General to find a political solution within the framework of United Nations Security Council resolutions».
On the other hand, Algeria couldn’t celebrate the Africa Day without referring to Morocco and the Sahara conflict. The Algerian Foreign Minister Sabri Boukadoum said that his country «regrets the failure to achieve the desired dynamic in the issue of Western Sahara, which has not yet reached a settlement».
«It is unfortunate to note that the UN peace process has been suffering from obstacles since the resignation of the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General», the minister added, referring to Germany’s former president Horst Kohler who resigned from his mission as personal envoy to the Sahara in May 2019.
Boukadoum claimed that «all manoeuvers against the international efforts for peace in Western Sahara will fail in the face of the justice of the Sahrawi people’s cause», stressing that Algeria «remains faithful to the principles and noble goals of Pan-Africanism».
He further stressed his country’s «commitment to promoting peace and strengthening the abilities of our continent to take care of its own problems, and contributing to the process of integration in Africa».
