MADRID: Spain has offered Spanish nationality to a Western Saharan activist in an attempt to persuade her to end a hunger strike in protest at Morocco’s refusal to allow her to return to her desert home.

Aminatou Haidar began her hunger strike at Tenerife airport two weeks ago after Morocco refused to let her back into Western Sahara following a trip abroad to accept a prize. Western Sahara has long sought independence from Moroccan control.

The Moroccan authorities took away Haidar’s passport and put her on a flight to Spain’s Canary Islands. Spanish authorities, worried that the prominent independence activist might die on their territory, have sought a deal with Moroccan authorities to allow her to return to her homeland.

At the heart of the problem is the issue of her passport, which the Moroccans confiscated when she refused to recognise her Moroccan citizenship on an official form. Haidar says Morocco has to give her passport back and refuses to ask them for another one. She says she wants to return to the Western Sahara.

Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos told Spanish radio that he hoped she would accept a Spanish passport, despite her not meeting any of the usual criteria for Spanish citizenship.

“In order to show we’re prepared to do whatever is necessary, we’ve made an exception on humanitarian grounds,” he said.

“We’ll try to get her Spanish nationality and a Spanish passport as quickly as possible.”

Haidar has already rejected an offer from Spanish authorities to grant her refugee status, which would allow her papers to cross international borders.

She told newspaper El Pais she was prepared to die if she could not return home.

“Between my children and my dignity I prefer my dignity. They will live without a mother but with dignity,” she said.

Morocco took control of most of the Western Sahara in 1975 after Spain withdrew from the desert territory.