Morocco disappointed by Rajoy's Western Sahara statements

Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy has backed the UN's efforts to resolve the Western Sahara conflict Moroccan diplomatic sources have told Arabstoday that they are disappointed with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's conflicting remarks over the Western Sahara conflict. The news comes after Rajoy said that his country would support "a just, durable and mutually acceptable solution which provides for self-determination in Western Sahara."
Morocco has been involved in a decades-long battle with the Polisario Front of the Sahrawi people in the region.
Authorities feel that Rajoy's recent statements are blow to the relations between Morocco and its northern neighbour.
A Moroccan diplomatic source claimed that Moroccan Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane's government had been upset with the Spanish PM's statement, having stood by Spain during its financial crisis in 2008, which enabled Spain to become the first commercial partner of Morocco, ahead of France; Morocco's historic ally in the region.
The source added that Benkirane's government had also avoided discussion about the Moroccan cities of Ceuta and Melilla, which have been occupied by Spain for more than five centuries.
Political sources told Arabstoday that the Moroccan government felt let down by the Spanish authorities, after receiving mixed signals from the Madrid-based government.
Officials in Rabat have publicly made it clear on several occasions that they had helped Spain during its financial difficulties. However,  according to sources in Spain, these claims are wide of the mark. A senior government source was recently quoted as saying: "How can the Moroccans say they have helped to save Spain from the economic crisis, when we have devoted more than €20m of annual aid to them, even if it was to put an end to the illegal immigration from Morocco into Spain."
Morocco's Foreign Minister, Saad Eddine el-Othmani told a Spanish newspaper recently that he was happy with Moroccan-Spanish relations. "Moroccan-Spanish relations are good, and based on dialogue, mutual respect and common interests," he explained, adding that there had been an improvement in the economic, political, and cultural relations between the two countries. "Spain has become the first exporter to Morocco, and the first economic partner of the Kingdom," he said.
Observers say division over the Western Sahara conflict could jeopardise any improvement in relations between the two states.
Morocco annexed the former Spanish colony in 1975, in a move not recognised by the international community, and has proposed broad autonomy for the phosphate-rich territory under its sovereignty.
But this is rejected by the Polisario Front, which insists on the right of the Sahrawi people to a referendum on self-determination and launched its struggle for independence even before the annexation.
A guerilla war lasted until 1991 when the United Nations brokered a ceasefire, but a permanent settlement remains elusive.