Morocco and Spain agreed to reopen the land borders through the occupied Ceuta and Melilla crossings, starting on Tuesday, May 17, 2022.
According to Spanish media, the Minister of Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, affirmed today, that the two countries reached the agreement of reopening the borders land after more than 2 years of closure.
The Spanish Foreign Minister, Jose Manuel Albares who attended yesterday the meeting of the Global Coalition against ISIS in Marrakech, had also said that the reopening of the borders land between Morocco and Spain would be in the next few days.
This decision is added to the ongoing Moroccan and Spanish efforts to restore the full bilateral relations after a severe diplomatic crisis that lasted several months last year due to the Spanish decision, on April 2021, to host the leader of the Separatist Front called Polisario, which fights Morocco over the region of Sahara, for treatment in a Spanish hospital after being infected by Coronavirus.
The Spanish decision that was meant to remain secret, was revealed by press sources, and led later to a crisis between Rabat and Madrid, since Morocco considered the Spanish move as a stab in the back of good neighborly relations.
The developments of the crisis ended with the Spanish changing its position on the Sahara issue, after the Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sanchez, sent a letter to the Moroccan King, Mohammed VI, on March 18, 2022, announcing the Spanish support of the Moroccan autonomy plan for Sahara.
