MOROCCO

Ceuta with a population of around 70,000 is an enclave of Spain in northwest Africa, a seaport on the Straits of Gibraltar, bordered by Morocco. For administrative purposes Ceuta is governed as part of Cadiz Province in Spain. The city is on a headland consisting of seven peaks at the end of a narrow isthmus. Once a military and penal station, Ceuta became an important centre for the manufacture of brassware and for trade in slaves, gold, and ivory. The Portuguese captured the city in 1415 and then Spain in 1580.

Melilla too is a Spanish enclave, a port in north-west Africa, administered as part of Malaga Province. Bordered by Morocco. Melilla is an old, walled town on a peninsula with modern buildings to the south and west. The city is a rail terminus serving the mountainous Rif hinterland and exports iron, lead, zinc, fish and fruit. The chief industries in the city are fish processing, boatbuilding, sawmilling, and flour milling. It was conquered by Spain in 1497 and has a population of 57,600.

The majority of the population in both areas are native Christian Spaniards. Both cities have Jewish communities, synagogues and schools. Moslems constitute about one-third of the population and there are many Moroccan workers who cross the frontier daily to work.

The potential for conflict is great. Spain will not contemplate withdrawal from areas it considers to be part of its territory. What is at stake is nothing less than Spanish sovereign territory in the form of two major cities, their hinterlands surrounded by Moroccan territory and several small but strategic islands, the Chafarinas, Velez de la Gomera and Aihucemas, located a few kilometres from the Moroccan coast. The last three island groups are important for the maintenance of Spanish fishing rights, navigation, control of illegal migration and smuggling.

What makes this situation so difficult is the number of interested parties:

• A struggle to achieve independence for Western Sahara backed by Morocco.
• The UK’s interest in reaching accord with Spain over Gibraltar.
• Periodic bouts of Arab nationalism and growing Islamic extremism.

The Basques watch with interest too, seeking precedents to establish their own independence claims.

Spain’s campaign to recover Gibraltar would not countenance a loss of overseas territories in the same region and Spain views the predictable Moroccan demands to regain Cueta, Melilla and the islands with apprehension. Its insistence that the principle of territorial integrity justifies its claim to regain Gibraltar is a double-edged sword. Morocco claims the same right over the Spanish enclaves. Spain further insists that the territories were legitimately acquired, have been Spanish for 500 years and are much closer to the mainland of Spain than the Canaries or the Balearics.

Arab opinion has backed Morocco fully. How can Spain legitimately request Britain to return Gibraltar to Spanish control and yet adamantly refuse to return the enclaves to Morocco? Spain needs the support of the Arab world to soothe its dispute with Morocco and peacefully to resolve its withdrawal from the West Sahara territory. Arab countries most assured of Spain’s friendship all have supported Morocco’s open defiance of Spain to win control of the territory, and have further pressurised Spain into accepting that people of the Sahara territory should have the right to self-determination.

Like Gibraltar, the status quo remains, the issues too complex to resolve. These issues are for governments. The ordinary people of Spain are accustomed to seeing Moroccan families on the main road south. They work in the EU and return to their homeland for a holiday heading to the ferry port of Algeciras. A few weeks later they will make the return journey. They will tell their brothers in the souks of the wealth in Germany, the liberal ways of France, the warmth of Spain. They have a legal job and the necessary papers, but their brothers don’t.

Consequently there is another type of immigrant to the EU and particularly Spain – an illegal immigrant, one who comes in the hope of securing a job and a brighter future. How do they get to Spain? They come in small open boats normally used for inshore fishing and powered by an outboard engine. Many die, as the Straits of Gibraltar is a dangerous place with strong currents, high winds and inclement weather.

Thousands of Moroccans do make it to the interior of Spain, though. Those who are not picked up by the police face an uncertain future with no documents and confined to low paid jobs. Those picked up are difficult to expel because they refuse to say where they come from.

PORTUGAL

Portugal is a country lying along the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe. It is bordered on the east and north by Spain and on the west and south by the Atlantic Ocean. To the west and southwest lie the Atlantic islands of the Azores and Madeira, which are both part of Portugal. As a member of the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Portugal plays a greater role in both European and world affairs than its size would suggest. Nonetheless it is one of the poorest countries in western Europe causing the country to have one of the highest rates of emigration in Europe.

At the height of its colonial endeavours in Asia, Africa, and South America, Portugal was the richest nation in the world. Because this wealth was not used to develop an industrial infrastructure, the country gradually declined. After 1974 the Portuguese economy was detached from its remaining overseas possessions in Africa and reoriented toward Europe.

Spain and Portugal have much in common. An imperial past, famous explorers and map-makers, a shared Iberian Peninsula, dictatorships followed by democracy, membership of the EU and NATO. Yet relations between the two countries have been marked by mutual suspicion, fear and scheming.

One starting point for this arose with the Portuguese revolution in 1910 which deposed a corrupt monarchy and established a republic. Overnight the Portuguese broke with the past by introducing a new flag, national anthem, separated church from state and adopted a new constitution, as well as ending the monarchy. This was directly opposite to the way Spain was governed and this difference was magnified by the way the two countries approached international relations during the World Wars. Spain was allegedly neutral, Portugal was orientated to the Allies with the strategic significance of the Azores.

Why did Portugal become an independent nation? One factor is probably the very rugged mountainous terrain and low population density that characterises the Spanish-Portuguese border region. Language is another consideration. The main difference however lies in its people, for the Portuguese character is more sentimental, ironic, mild, caring, and more melancholic than the ardent, arrogant and aggressive Spanish characteristics. This has given rise to a feeling of Portugal being a little brother to Spain, similar to the relationship Wales and Scotland have to England.

Spain has tended to ignore its little brother Portugal. Motorways radiate from Madrid to all its provincial capitals. They snake down the Mediterranean from France to Morocco. A new motorway is under construction along Spain’s northern coast. But there is still no direct motorway link between the two EU capitals of Lisbon and Madrid.

In recent years the two countries have drawn closer together. Membership of NATO and the EU have helped. The 2003 war in Iraq was fully supported by both governments. Football events result in friendly camaraderie. Big brother still dominates however, for the Spanish press cover international events from all over the world but rarely make any mention of Portugal.

BASQUES

The Basque Country, a region in which the Basque language is spoken, comprises the Atlantic side of the Pyrenees, including the Pyrenees-Atlantiques of south-west France and the northern Spanish province of Navarra. Euzkadi, as it is known in the Basque language, is the homeland of the strongly nationalistic Basque people, who proudly maintain their distinctive culture, traditions, language, and religious style, with a sense of independence from both France and Spain.

The Basque Country has been independent throughout most of its history. The area came under Spanish and French control after the Basque people supported the Carlists in their 19th-century struggle with the monarchy and were later defeated with them. The fight to regain Basque autonomy began soon afterwards. The Basque Country was recognised by France in 1951, while in Spain, the 1979 Statute of Guernica granted a degree of autonomy to the Basque community of northern Spain.

The region boasts picturesque and varied scenery ranging from the high mountains, rivers, and pasture meadows of the Pyrenees to the beaches of the Bay of Biscay and Atlantic Ocean. The French coast of the Basque Country is a popular holiday destination with a rich history, beautiful old towns, and coastline. Tourism, however, has not reached its potential, possibly owing to the risk of terrorism in the region. The major industrial city is Bilbao, but much of the Basque Country is rural, the economy based upon agriculture and fishing.

ETA –Euzkadi Ta Azkatasuna

ETA is a Basque separatist terrorist organisation that aims to secure independence for the Basque country in northern Spain from the Spanish government. The words ‘Euzkadi Ta Azkatasuna’ mean ‘Basque Homeland and Liberty’.ETA’s aims, if not its methods, go back to 1894 when the Partido Nacionalista Vasco (PNV) was founded. Forced into exile during the years of Francisco Franco, the PNV was considered too appeasing by many of its members and in 1959 ETA was founded as a splinter movement.

From the outset ETA differentiated itself from the PNV by its belief that violence was legitimate in achieving its aims. In 1966 however differences within ETA itself caused the younger organisation to split. One side favoured the traditional aims of Basque independence; the other took a harder Marxist-Leninist line and placed more emphasis on the use of bombings and assassinations. The Spanish government responded with force, moving into the area and carrying out a brutal policy of beatings and torture. By 1970 the organisation was severely weakened and many of its leaders were in prison.

Franco’s death brought about a change in government policy. The Basque region was granted partial autonomy and ETA members were pardoned. However, the most noticeable outcome was a tenfold increase in violence in the decade that followed. In the 1960s and 1970s ETA maintained close links with terrorist organisations such as the Irish Republican Army and sympathetic regimes such as Libya. As these links weakened ETA’s policy was to establish itself as an independent force financing its operations through robbery, extortion, and blackmail.

With falling support and notable police successes on both sides of the French-Spanish border, ETA waned in importance during the early 1990s. In 1994 the organisation officially renounced violence but in practice the terror continued. In July 1997 five million people took to the streets across Spain to try to prevent the killing of the town councillor Miguel Angel Blanco who had been taken hostage by ETA. His eventual shooting caused widespread popular outrage. Regular mass protests against ETA violence continue to take place across Spain. In December the entire political front of ETA was jailed for seven years on charges of collaborating with terrorists. In early 1998 further Popular Party politicians were murdered within the Basque country and across Spain.

In September 1998 ETA announced a unilateral ceasefire, though some commentators were sceptical about whether this would lead to a permanent end to violence. 14 months later, the ceasefire was declared to be at an end on the grounds that peace talks were failing to make progress following the government’s refusal to discuss independence initiatives. In January 2000 a car bomb exploded in the Spanish capital Madrid, killing an army officer, and marking a return to violence yet again.

Several arrests by Spanish and French police failed to prevent a further surge of violence. During 2001 the Spanish government under José Maria Aznar took an increasingly hard line against ETA and Basque nationalism but despite a number of arrests several car bombs were set off in and around Madrid, including one at the airport. Killings of policemen and government officials, all regarded as legitimate targets by ETA, also continued, including the fatal shooting of a judge in Bilbao in November.

The Basque case is clear. They have a totally different language and a long period of settlement with little mixing with other people. The Basque country has been an integral part of the Kingdoms of Navarre and Castile for 1,000 years and as Spanish citizens they are entitled by the constitution to the same rights as other citizens. They have justified suspicions and concerns for their status in any political arrangement. Even in cuisine and habits the Basques are not typical of Spaniards for they prefer beer and cider to wine, eat dried cod rather than fresh fish and even wear a beret.

It was however the Spanish Civil War that allied the Basques against outside control. The Basque leadership chose to support the Republican cause and fight against General Franco. Their hatred of the Franco regime and international Fascism was cemented by the German Luftwaffe attack on the historic centre of Basque nationalism, Guernica, immortalised by Picasso’s most famous painting. The following is an edited extract from The Times eyewitness account of the tragedy of Guernica.

A Town Destroyed in an Air Attack

With Franco’s victory in 1939, severe measures were taken against the Basque country. The traditional use of the Basque language, cultural organisations and activities that smacked of Basque separateness was forbidden. More than 25,000 Basque prisoners were executed following the Civil War in revenge for their support of the Republic. An ineffectual underground resistance was abandoned after a few premature unsuccessful operations from 1946–57, and the Basque nationalist cause languished until the establishment of ETA in 1959.

Things began to change in the 1970s when ETA stepped up violence and blackmail, abandoning its policy of taking care to prevent injuries to innocent bystanders. They gradually became more and more anti-American and anti-Israel. They admired the PLO and other Arab terrorist groups. Eventually, extremist and mercurial Arab leaders, such as Libya’s Ghaddafi became open supporters of ETA, supplying it with explosives and funds.

The Basques today have the same or more rights and freedoms as they had under the Republic – yet they want more and more and independence too. ETA is a terrorist organisation with its political wing Batasuna, now banned as a political party, only able to operate behind the scenes practising blackmail against many ordinary citizens in the Basque country, where supporters of the status quo are liable to be targeted and denounced as Spanish lovers.

Quite rightly the Spanish government will not move, so like Gibraltar, Morocco and Portugal, the status quo remains.