Morocco’s Makhzen Regime Fails To Drag Portugal Into Spain’s Scenario With Algeria

The Moroccan Makhzen regime has failed to drag Portugal into the quagmire of a diplomatic crisis with Algeria, as it has done with the other Iberian country, Spain, which has put all its eggs in Rabat’s basket and accepted Algerian economic sanctions that it has found difficult to overcome for more than a year.
Despite the pressure exerted by the Moroccan regime on the Portuguese Prime Minister, Antonio Costa, during his visit to the Alawi kingdom at the end of last week, to follow in the footsteps of the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, and announce his support for the autonomy plan proposed by the Moroccan monarch, Mohamed VI in 2007, but the Portuguese official knew how to avoid Moroccan pressure and temptations and announced his country’s support for the United Nations’ efforts to resolve the conflict, although this visit came after almost six years of cold bilateral relations, against the background of Lisbon’s neutrality on the Western Sahara issue.
The United Nations recognizes only one project, the referendum on the self-determination of the Sahrawi people, in accordance with the agreement signed between the two parties in 1991 under the auspices of the UN, which approved the creation of an international committee to organize the referendum in Western Sahara, known by the acronym “MINURSO”. The truce, as we know, broke down on 13 November following the intervention of the Moroccan army against unarmed Sahrawi demonstrators at the “Guerguerat” crossing.
The statement published by the Portuguese government on its website made no reference to the “autonomy plan”, recognized by the king of the Alawite kingdom as a condition for establishing close relations with partner countries, and only referred to support for the UN-led process, which recognizes the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination through “a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution”.
The Moroccan regime is usually bothered by the fact that its friends claim to support the international track, while accepting it from countries that do not share its expansionist ambitions in the region. According to Portuguese media reports, the Moroccan regime tried to dissuade the Portuguese Prime Minister from using the phrase “support for the international track” and replacing it with a blueprint. However, the attempt failed, prompting the Moroccan side to issue a unilateral statement in which it spoke of the Portuguese government’s support for the territorial integrity of the Alawite kingdom.
The Moroccan monarch had called on “Morocco’s traditional and new partners who have unclear positions” on Western Sahara to “clarify their positions and reject their content in a way that does not allow for interpretation”, considering Western Sahara to be “the clear and simple criterion by which the sincerity of friendships and the effectiveness of friendships are measured”. However, Lisbon and Rabat agreed to establish a “global strategic partnership”. Has the Makhzen regime abandoned the condition set by King Mohammed VI last summer?
Portugal is considered one of Algeria’s friends, with whom it has had a treaty of friendship, good-neighborliness’ and cooperation since 2005, and Portugal also receives significant quantities of Algerian gas, which is exported to Spain via the “Medgaz” pipeline, which connects Algeria directly to Spanish soil without passing through Moroccan soil, The Portuguese government’s positions are carefully calculated to avoid repeating the experience of Spain, which, after more than a year of Algeria’s unilateral decision to suspend the Treaty of Friendship and Good Neighborliness’ and to impose economic sanctions on Madrid, found itself in a spiral from which it was difficult to emerge.