Madrid's Africa strategy faces criticism over Western Sahara exclusion
Spain's cooperation strategy with Africa, titled «Spain-Africa 2025-2028: Working Together Through a Strategic Partnership», makes no mention of Western Sahara or the «Sahrawi people». This omission has sparked criticism from certain political circles in Spain and media outlets affiliated with the Polisario Front.
The 96-page document references Morocco nine times in contexts related to trade, culture, and migration, compared to just four mentions of Algeria. It describes Morocco as «Spain's main trading partner in Africa, followed by Algeria, Nigeria, Libya, and South Africa», while also highlighting the historical ties between the two countries.
Additionally, the report notes that «Spain has a long tradition of educational and cultural cooperation with Africa, thanks to the efforts of various actors in the field, with a clear geographical focus on Morocco and Guinea».
The exclusion of Western Sahara has drawn criticism from Spanish media outlets known for their opposition to Morocco. The newspaper El Independiente reiterated the Polisario Front's position, claiming that the territory was «completely ignored in the document, despite Spain still being, legally speaking, the administrative power of this territory».
Similarly, Vozpópuli reported that the Spanish government had «completely overlooked Western Sahara in the Spain-Africa Strategy 2025-2028, failing to mention the Sahrawi people or the Sahrawi issue in a document intended to guide Spanish cooperation with Africa in the coming years».
Polisario-affiliated media also condemned the omission. The Spanish-language site Saharawi noted that while the previous strategy focused on sub-Saharan Africa while excluding the Maghreb, the new plan encompasses all African countries, including Morocco, but deliberately ignores Western Sahara.
The outlet suggested that this exclusion was a calculated move, with many analysts believing that Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares omitted Western Sahara to appease Morocco. It further argued that this decision aligns with Spain's broader shift on the Sahrawi conflict, which culminated in Madrid's 2022 recognition of Morocco's sovereignty over the territory. Since then, Spanish-Moroccan relations have been shaped by a new approach—one that, according to critics, now includes sidestepping the Western Sahara issue in official policy documents.
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