Marruecos ignora la reunión de la Unión Africana sobre el Sáhara

Morocco feels neither concerned nor interested by the communiqué that culminated the meeting of the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC) held on 9 March 2021 on the Moroccan Sahara issue, said, Friday in Rabat, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Residing Abroad, Nasser Bourita.

This is a "non-event" for Morocco, which continues to work within the AU in accordance with Decision 693 of the Union, Bourita said at a press conference after his meeting with his Guinean counterpart, Ibrahim Khalil Kaba.

"This communiqué is the result of manoeuvres and irregularities that marred the adoption procedure," Bourita stressed, recalling in this context that the PSC meeting took place on 9 March, while the document was published on 19 March.

"During all these 10 days, the majority of the Council had rejected its written conclusions. It may be that by force or by fait accompli, the text has been modified," he said.

This meeting of the PSC has already been marred by several irregularities and raises many questions about its context, its objectives and its ulterior motives, he pointed out, stressing that the discussions showed that Africa has a clear position, which is to support the efforts of the United Nations to find a solution to the Moroccan Sahara issue.

On this occasion, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Residing Abroad, recalled that the question of the Moroccan Sahara is subject to the United Nations, and that the Troika is the only one empowered to follow the Sahara question.

Bourita underlined Morocco's satisfaction that the majority of the member states of the PSC, as well as the AU Commission, remained faithful to legality and legitimacy, defending during the PSC Summit on 9 March the validity and relevance of decision 693 of the Union, as the only framework of the AU to follow up the question of the Moroccan Sahara.

The solution must reflect the national position of two thirds of African countries that do not recognise the self-proclaimed puppet entity of the Polisario separatists, the minister said, recalling that most African countries support the Moroccan Sahara. "So for us it is a non-event," Bourita insisted.

It should be recalled that Decision 693 of the African Summit, held in July 2018 in Nouakchott (Mauritania), enshrines the exclusivity of the UN as the framework for the search for a solution to the regional conflict created around the Moroccan Sahara issue, and establishes the Troika mechanism to support the efforts of the UN in the resolution of this artificial dispute.