Human Interest

Sanchez arrives in Rabat for symbolic meeting with Moroccan King

Rabat, Apr 7 (EFE).- Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sanchez arrived on Thursday in Rabat to meet with the Moroccan King Mohamed VI.

The meeting formally ends the diplomatic crisis between the two countries following Spain’s endorsement of Morocco’s autonomy proposal for Western Sahara.

Last month, Madrid shifted positions on the fate of Western Sahara as an autonomous region of Morocco and told Rabat its proposal was “serious, credible and realistic”.

The change was led by Sanchez’s socialist party but received criticism by its coalition government’s junior partner, the far left Podemos party, as well as media and non-governmental organizations.

Sanchez was greeted by his Moroccan counterpart, Aziz Ajanuch, and the head of Moroccan diplomacy, Naser Burita.

Moroccan ambassador for Madrid, Karima Benyaich, also welcomed the Spanish prime minister.

Benyaich returned to her post on March 20 a year after resigning over Spain’s decision to let the leader of the Polisario Front, Brahim Gali, be treated in a hospital in Spain.

Sanchez will meet the King at the Royal Palace in the Moroccan capital in a gesture that symbolizes the normalization of bilateral relations. EFE

bb/fpa/mp

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