Spain has traditionally played a positive role as an intermediary between North Africa and Europe, and after it withdrew its troops from Iraq this reputation was enhanced on both shores. Clearly, while problems remain, enlightened self-interest has caused Spain to reach out to its neighbour. And, indeed, Morocco’s anxieties about being left out of the growing Mediterranean economic boom seem to be in abeyance. On both sides there are even those dreaming the ultimate dream—a railroad tunnel under the Strait of Gibraltar to further economic integration and to physically link the two continents.
As the horse-trading between EU member states and the countries of North Africa’s Mahgrib plays itself out, the United States has found itself comparatively on the sidelines. Recent US moves to draw Morocco more firmly into its orbit include a free-trade agreement between the two countries. Washington’s decision to lift its long-standing ban on US oil-company investment in Libya indicates its interest in North African oil as a reliable trans-Atlantic energy source. But in this race to invest, the Europeans have the upper hand. Across the Maghrib, countries currently undergoing an oil and gas boom are determined to make the most of it. Despite the positive aspects of the new free-trade agreement between Washington and Rabat, the Moroccans and others believe that their real interests lie with an expanding Europe. Oil and gas are the new currency of mare nostrum.
When US Undersecretary for Political Affairs Marc Grossman went to Morocco in the spring of 2004 to explain the Bush administration’s “initiative for a Greater Middle East,” King Mohammed VI made it clear that in the Muslim world one size does not fit all, that observing Palestine’s right to self-determination was critical, and that the war in Iraq was a disaster. As the king later described in an interview with the influential Spanish newspaper El País, “I told him [Grossman] we did not form part of the Greater Middle East and that you could not put the whole Arab world in one basket, that Morocco was part of the Maghrib in North Africa. We share many things with our friends in the Middle East but we are not faced with the same realities. I also told him we had not just been waiting for him to come here to carry out reforms. We had already made many changes without his advice. We maintain excellent relations with the United States but because we are friends we should not avoid speaking out clearly.”
A local saying in Gibraltar is, “As long as the Barbary apes are still roaming wild on the Rock, it will continue to fly the British flag.” Thanks to its relationship with Britain—a relationship Spain refuses to accept—Gibraltar recently became an EU member, which has jeopardized its status as a tax haven for some 8,000 offshore companies. The European Commission has established a “dialogue forum” to investigate the issue but has already demanded that Gibraltar-as-tax-haven be disbanded by 2010. Gibraltar’s outmoded naval base stands as a relic of the past, but still generates criticism and protests, especially over the British practice of docking nuclear submarines at its port. On the other hand, the US naval base at Rota in Spain, 100 kilometres from the Rock, where US bombers destined for Iraq refuelled, stands as a constant reminder of US military hegemony.
In the Europe/North Africa oil and gas gamble, in the attempt to revolutionize the Mediterranean on both sides, it remains to be seen if any benefits will trickle down to Black Africa. As Libya, Algeria, Morocco, and others become further integrated with Europe, the Sahara Desert will become the natural northern border of Africa. Meanwhile, sub-Saharan Africa remains a volcano overflowing with corruption, disease, starvation, and internecine war. For many, the only solution is to reach the shores of Paradise Europe by any available means.
