An underwater cable of 49 million euros will connect the Canary Islands with Africa, but it will stop just where the legal problem begins: the border of the Western Sahara.
What is happening. The Ring of the East islands will first join Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura with the latest generation fiber. Then it will jump to the African continent, to Tarfaya, the last Moroccan city before the West Sahara.
The Canarian government It has been clear: “The cable goes to Tarfaya, it has nothing to do with Western Sahara.” But Morocco has other plans. His government wants to extend that connection to what he calls his “South Provinces”, the euphemism with which he refers to the Saharawi territory since 1975, when Spain abandoned it.
Why is it important. Submarine cables are Internet highways. 99% of data traffic between continents travels through them. This project promises to make the Canary Islands a digital node between Europe and Africa.
But there is a huge legal problem. The EU Court of Justice considers any economic activity in the Western Sahara without consent of the Polisario Front, recognized by the UN as representative of the Saharawi people. And the Polisario He has already warned: If the cable reaches Saharawi territory, they will go to court.
The context. Since Pedro Sánchez supported the Moroccan Autonomy Plan for Sahara in 2022Spain tries to maintain the balance between its economic interests with Morocco and its international legal obligations.
This cable puts that test balance. If the infrastructure that Spain finances with European funds ends up facilitating Moroccan expansion in Sahara, could splash Spain with legal problems in European courts.
The money trail. The construction has already begun with these numbers:
- 49 million total budget.
- 20 million provided by the European Investment Bank.
- Additional 7.5 million for connection with Tarfaya.
In February, Canalink technicians – the Canarian public company that leads the project— Tarfaya visited to study the land and design the submarine layout. The cable will be manufactured in 2025 and will be deployed in 2026.
The precedent. It is not the first time that Canary Islands connect with Morocco. Since 2011 There is a cable with Asilahin the north of the country. But that did not generate any controversy because it is far from the territory in dispute.
This is different. It reaches the same border of the Sahara. And even if technically stops there, it creates the perfect basis for Morocco to complete what European companies cannot do directly by legal restrictions.
The threat. The Polisario Front has a history of victories in European courts. He has lying fishing agreements and agriculture between the EU and Morocco for including resources from the Sahara without its consent.
“We will carry out any action to guarantee the rights of the Saharawi people,” He said Abdulah Arabi, representative of the Polisario in Spain. A data cable would be your next goal if you cross the border.
And now what. The project will continue because Canary Islands need this connection. The ESSI Spain will be able to maintain the legal fiction that its responsibility ends in Tarfaya.
If Morocco extends the cable to the Sahara using the base infrastructure financed with European money, Spain could be found in the midst of another conflict between its economic interests and its obligations with the territory that it abandoned 50 years ago.
And this time it will not be for fishing or phosphates, but for the control of the data between two continents.
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