Control of Tangier

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23053, 22 June 1940, Page 10

Control of Tangier

fSThe' occupation of Tangier by Spanish troops to an end another experiment in the finternational control of strategically situated cities to which ,no nation has an overriding claim. Few places have been the subject of more diplomatic incidents during the 1 last 50 years than Tangier. The cause of this has been the critical situation of the city at the entrance to the Mediterranean, the possibility of its use as a point of political and economic penetration in Morocco, and the desire of interested Powers, represented on the governing body, to prevent any one Power from gaining ascendancy in its control. It was largely by accident that Tangier came to be under international control. To prevent foreigners from interfering with Moroccan affairs and to avoid foreign penetration of the interior, the Moroccan Government long made Tangier the residence of diplomatic representatives and merchants. By occasional displays qf force extraterritorial rights were sought and obtained by the interested Powers, and the control by the diplomatic corps over administration of the city extended until it was finally complete over a surrounding area of 200 square miles. Joint government has had its difficulties and penalties. The city has suffered through lack of centralised control, neither industry nor agriculture could find encouragement in the wavering policies of an unwieldy and hesitant administration. In 1924, after long delay, the Tangier Convention came into force. By its terms authority was to remain with the international body, but a legislative assembly was provided in which there is both Moroccan and foreign representation. France was left in the position of greatest authority. Foreign affairs were placed under French control, and the . chief administrator, 'responsible for giving effect to the decisions of the legislative assembly and for directing the international administration of the zone, has also been a Frenchman. The territorial subdivision of Morocco was fixed by the Franco-Spanish Declaration, of 1904, by which France transferred to Spain all rights in northern Morocco, except those in Tangier. If Spain got a more definite status, she also obtained an exceedingly difficult terrain, the fiercest tribes and more than 20 years of costly war. Hope that some day it would be in a position to establish control over Tangier has encouraged successive Spanish Governments to persevere in the pacification of their Moroccan territory.. Tangier’s transfer to Spanish control has been unavoidable, and is undoubtedly the result of considerable Spanish pressure on France during the last few days. Should Spain enter the war against the Allies to recover Gibraltar the fall of international government in Tangier may constitute a serious military complication in the western Mediterranean.