Targeted by an investigation into the entry into Spain in April 2021 of the leader of the Sahrawi separatists of the Polisario, the former Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs Arancha González Laya has been exonerated, we learned on Friday May 27 from of Spanish justice.
Read alsoWestern Sahara: in Morocco, the sacred union against the “provocations” of the Polisario
The arrival in Spain in the greatest secrecy of Brahim Ghali, to be treated there for Covid-19, had provoked a diplomatic crisis with Rabat which ended two months ago, thanks to a reversal of Madrid on the file of the Western Sahara. Opened in September by the court in Zaragoza (north-east), the city where the Polisario leader had landed, this investigation, which aimed to determine why Brahim Ghali had been exempted from checks upon his arrival, was “filed away“, According to a document sent to AFP on Friday by the judicial body.
For the magistrates in charge of the investigation, it is “indisputable that Brahim Ghali entered Spanish territory without submitting to border controls” and he is “undeniable that Arancha González Laya was aware» of his arrival and «took an active part in the preparations“. But “allowing Brahim Ghali to enter secretly (into Spain) so as not to affect our relations with other countries falls within the framework of foreign relations“, they judged, emphasizing that it was a “political decision going beyond the field of prevarication“.
SEE ALSO – Land borders between Morocco and Spain reopen after two years of crisis
Major diplomatic crisis
Reacting on Cadena Ser radio, the former minister, who left the government during a reshuffle last summer, reaffirmed that the entry of Brahim Ghali “was done for humanitarian reasons and within the framework of the lawand assured that she would make the same decision again today. The reception in Spain of Brahim Ghali, who arrived on board a medical plane from the Algerian presidency, had triggered a major diplomatic crisis between Spain and Morocco.
Read alsoMadrid chooses Rabat in Western Sahara
This estrangement was marked by the arrival in mid-May 2021 of more than 10,000 migrants in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, thanks to a relaxation of controls by the Moroccan authorities. Madrid put an end to this crisis on March 18 by recognizing the autonomy plan proposed by Rabat for Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony. A reversal which provoked the anger of the Polisario and Algiers, the main support of the Sahrawi separatists.
SEE ALSO – The crisis in Ceuta “is political and with Spain”, says Morocco