The overheated relations between Madrid and Rabat will irreversibly allow Morocco to emerge from the clichés under which it appears in the eyes of Spain and even of the whole of Europe. This is the opinion of the French daily Le Monde, which analyzes the migration issue from various diplomatic and geopolitical angles.
For The World, everything suggests that the influx of nearly 8,000 Moroccans into the Spanish enclave in less than 72 hours was planned by the Moroccan authorities. According to the publication, this episode of the diplomatic crisis between the two countries will mark for a long time yet, Madrid but also Europe. This despite the fact that more than 5,600 of the Migrants have been repatriated to their country, the card played by Morocco will have deeply wounded Madrid beyond, Brussels. Indeed, the migratory weapon used by Rabat reminds Europe of the strategy of the Turkish Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the former Libyan Guide, Mohamed Kadhaffi. They “did not hesitate to play the migratory weapon in the Mediterranean to put pressure on Europe”, recalls the columnist before warning that “the attitude of Rabat constitutes an unfortunate precedent”.
Analyzing the issue through a diplomatic prism, the newspaper recalls that Rabat had promised that Spain’s unilateral decision to secretly receive Brahim Ghali, head of the Polisario, will have consequences. And the response promised by Rabat turns out to be “the orchestrated migratory wave towards Ceuta”.
For the newspaper, the kingdom of Morocco did not hesitate to act in this way, because it feels assured by its diplomatic success on the question of the Sahara. On this issue, the USA, under Donald Trump, recognized “Moroccan sovereignty” over the Sahara in exchange for the normalization of relations between Morocco and Israel.
However, warns the analyst, this is a risky bet. The influx into the enclave of Ceuta of minor migrants (children and adolescents or even infants), risking their lives and under the passivity of the Moroccan police, could seriously damage the image of the kingdom. This can appear as an act of “cynicism of a power ready to coldly sacrifice its youth on the altar of its diplomatic interests”. The scenes of Moroccan migrants of all ages, ready to die only to stay in their country, illustrate the social precariousness of a certain Moroccan population which is bending under the ambient misery despite the image of an emerging country that we are trying to show to the face of the world.
Beyond the diplomatic forces and setbacks, the publication invites us to look at the kingdom with realism, taking full account of its many potentialities. Gateway to West Africa and positioned at the heart of security and migration cooperation in the region, Morocco practices enlightened Islam. Its diaspora in Europe is dynamic, sometimes influential. On the other hand, attenuates the daily, Moroccan governance wants to be more and more authoritarian, citing the imprisonments of journalists and critical intellectuals, citing the case of Sulaiman Raissouni.
