Marruecos rectifica: sí hay fronteras terrestres con España

A senior official of the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs told today that the joint declaration signed between Morocco and Spain on 7 April recognises that there are also "land borders" between the two countries.

According to the Moroccan official, the joint declaration signed in April with Spain stresses that "full normalisation of the movement of people and goods will be restored in an orderly manner, including appropriate mechanisms for customs and people control at land and sea borders".

The senior official is referring to the land "borders" with Spain, a word that was omitted from the declaration, which only speaks of including customs regimes "at land and maritime level".

A letter from the Kingdom of Morocco to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights was made public on Thursday. It states that Morocco "has no land borders with Spain", but only "simple access points", and that Melilla "remains an occupied prison".

According to the Moroccan Foreign Ministry source consulted by EFE, the declaration adopted in April after the meeting between Mohamed VI and Sánchez "contains the bases and fundamental principles of the new phase of association between the two neighbouring countries".

This declaration, according to the source, lists the areas of cooperation between the two countries and "different issues of common interest, including the Sahara", an issue on which the Spanish government supports the Moroccan proposal for autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty.