Haidar forces Spain and Morocco to negotiate

After 23 days on hunger strike at the Spanish airport of Lanzarote human rights activist Aminetu Haidar, from the Morocco-controlled region of Western Sahara, is in critical condition. She is pressuring the Spanish government to allow her to return to her home country. Morocco has meanwhile threatened to break off its cooperation with the immigration and security policy if Spain intervenes. The Spanish daily El País writes: "The threats should be taken back immediately given that clandestine immigration poses a threat to the lives of countless Moroccans the fate of whom Rabat cannot ignore, and also given that security is not just a Spanish interest, but a shared interest, precisely because the threat affects both countries. The rupture in bilateral relations which the case of Aminetu Haidar has caused demonstrates the weakness of the base on which they are constructed. … Rabat and Madrid must return as soon as possible to the path of agreement on their common interests and of negotiation regarding their differences."

» full article (external link, Spanish)
More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Migration, » Social movements, » Spain, » Morocco

» To the complete press review of Wednesday, December 9, 2009