Spain grants citizenship to Sahrawis born under colonial rule, testing ties with Morocco

Spanish lawmakers on Thursday voted to grant citizenship to people born in Western Sahara under Spanish colonization — a region now that is now largely controlled by Morocco.

The move could test Madrid's already delicate relations with Rabat, especially after the border crisis in Ceuta.

The lower house approved the bill by:

In favor: 168

Against: 31

Abstentions: 145

The legislation would grant Spanish nationality to Sahrawis born before September 29, 1977, and allow their descendants to obtain citizenship through naturalization.

Estimates of those eligible range from around 70,000 to more than 100,000.

The legislation must now pass the senate to become law.

Morocco claims sovereignty over Western Sahara

Spain's ruling Socialist Party and its left-wing coalition partner Sumar supported the measure, while the conservative People's Party abstained and far-right Vox opposed it.

Sumar lawmaker Tesh Sidi, the first woman of Sahrawi origin to serve in parliament, said the legislation restores the "Spanish national identity card to those Sahrawis who once held ​and from whom this state took it away."

Spain controlled Western Sahara until 1976. Morocco claims sovereignty over the territory, while an indigenous resistance group, the Polisario Front, seeks independence.

Morocco occupies almost all of the territory. Meanwhile, the Polisario Front across the border in the Algerian town of Tindouf, where tens of thousands of displaced Saharawi people live in refugee camps.

The region remains on the United Nations' list of non-self-governing territories.

How the Ceuta influx raised tensions

The vote comes amid renewed tensions between Madrid and Rabat following a large influx of migrants into Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta in July.

Scores of migrants died in their attempt to reach EU territory, most by drowning.

Although most of those who breached Ceuta's borders have returned, thousands remain, many of them unaccompanied minors living in dire conditions.

The incident caused a major rift among EU member states, most publicly between Spain's left-wing government and Italy's far-right leadership.

Edited by: Zac Crellin