Almost half corresponds to ground vehicles, although ammunition, bombs, missiles, and rockets have also been delivered.
According to a parliamentary response to which Europe has Press access, Spain provided arms and military equipment to Morocco for more than 385 million euros between 1991 and 2020, about half of which corresponded to the provision of ground vehicles. Senator Carles Mulet of Compromis had requested the government about the “amount of weapons, war material, bombs, military vehicles, and so on” that Spain had supplied to Morocco each year since 1991, as well as the cost of such shipments.
In its initial response, the Executive had confined itself to referring to Ministry of Commerce data on the export of defence material, other material, and dual-use items and technology, prompting Mulet to persist on his issue.Now, in its current answer, the Government has sent the requested data to the Compromis senator in the form of two tables with yearly numbers, stressing that they are not accessible in a disaggregated format prior to 2005.
VEHICLES, AMMUNITION AND BOMBS
According to the Executive’s graphs, the entire sum over the almost 30 years is 385,763,165 euros, of which 164,041,756 euros relate to land vehicles. The second most expensive item is ammunition and devices, which cost 98,799,414 euros, followed by bombs, torpedoes, rockets, and missiles, which cost 33,693,606.
Similarly, Spain supplied the Alawite kingdom “aircraft, lighter-than-air vehicles, and unmanned aerial vehicles” for 10,652,626 euros, as well as production equipment for over 6.6 million euros. They finish the supplies of energy materials and related substances for 1,386,120 euros; smooth-bore weapons with a calibre equal to or greater than 20mm, other weapons or weapons with a calibre greater than 12.7mm for 912,800 euros; electronic equipment, space vehicle for 465,310 euros; and armoured or protective equipment and constructions for 25,922 euros.
THE YEAR WITH THE MOST SALES WAS 2008. 2008 was the year with the most sales, with more than 113.9 million euros, relating solely to the supply of land vehicles for the full period covered by the statistics. In general, sales of weapons and other military equipment to Morocco increased significantly from 2014, when they totaled more than 9.7 million, and this has been more or less sustained since then, with some peaks such as 2016, when they totaled more than 30.2 million, including 22.2 million in ammunition and devices and 7.7 million in bombs, torpedoes, rockets, and missiles.
The overall sum was 23.24 million euros in 2019, comprising more than 13.2 million in ammunition and 8.5 million in bombs, torpedoes, and other weapons, while the total increased to more than 12.5 million in 2020, the most recent year for which data is available. In this case, too, the major item is ammunition (around 10.27 million), although ground vehicles were also supplied for 1.34 million.
Thus, Compromis has tarnished the government by selling weapons to Morocco since 1991, when a ceasefire deal was negotiated with the Polisario Front in the fight over Western Sahara, which has yet to be resolved. The party has accused the neighbouring country of “harassing Spain” at this time, citing “military bases near the autonomous cities, drones with bombs that would reach these cities, continuous invasion of Spanish land and waters; Chafarinas or Perejil, border closures, oil prospecting near the Canary Islands” as examples. “If Morocco is a threat to the integrity of the state today, or if it continues to kill the Saharawi people, it is due to the sale of Spanish weaponry,” Comproms concludes.