Marruecos insta a Argelia a asumir responsabilidades en el Sáhara Occidental

The solution to the Western Sahara conflict depends on bilateral dialogue between Rabat and Algiers, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said on Monday. The declarations were made during the inauguration of the Senegalese Consulate in Dakhla, a town in Western Sahara. The Republic of Senegal has thus shown its diplomatic support for the Kingdom of Morocco in the territorial dispute in the region.

The Minister of African Cooperation presided over the inauguration together with the Senegalese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Aissata Tall Sall. Following the initialling of several bilateral agreements between Morocco and Senegal to strengthen strategic relations, Bourita took the opportunity to respond to the statements made last week by the Algerian Foreign Minister, Sabri Boukadoum, who called for "direct and serious negotiations" on Western Sahara between the parties to the conflict: the pro-independence Polisario Front and the Moroccan government. 

"I agree with the Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs in considering that the solution to the Sahara question will only be achieved through dialogue between the two real parties to the question, which we have always demanded, with Morocco and Algeria sitting at the dialogue table", declared Nasser Bourita. The minister said that the Western Sahara conflict "is the raison d'être of Algerian diplomacy", and urged the neighbouring country to assume its responsibility: "By its mobilisation, by its declarations and by its positions, Algeria confirms daily that it is a real party to this conflict, so it must assume its responsibility".

Boukadoum stated a few days ago that Morocco and the Polisario Front are the only parties interested in finding a solution to the territorial dispute. Therefore, Algeria is not one of the actors with an interest in the conflict. For his part, Bourita refuted his Algerian counterpart point by point during the inauguration of the Senegalese embassy. The Moroccan foreign policy chief pointed to Algeria as the necessary backer of the Polisario Front and as the main promoter of a campaign of disinformation and disqualification against the Kingdom of Morocco. 

The Algerian foreign minister also criticised the appointment of a new UN envoy: "It is not enough", he said. Following this statement, the Moroccan minister denied Boukadoum's comments in which he accused Morocco of rejecting 10 candidates for the post of personal envoy of the UN Secretary General for Western Sahara. For the Moroccan minister, Algerian support for the Polisario Front is not only indicative of its involvement in the conflict, but the country has been active in obstructing the appointment of a new UN personal envoy. 

At the end of the hearing, Bourita responded to Boukadoum's question on the extension of the prerogatives of MINURSO - the UN Mission for the referendum in Western Sahara - on the monitoring of human rights. "Is Algeria capable of talking about human rights? Algeria is the last country to talk about human rights", the minister declared ironically. "Unfortunately, MINURSO's movements are restricted. And one has to ask who is hindering its action and who is preventing it from monitoring the ceasefire to the east of the security structure," he added.

The question of the status of Western Sahara, considered a "non-self-governing territory" by the UN in the absence of a final agreement, has for decades pitted Morocco against the Polisario Front. The latter, supported from Algiers, demands a referendum on self-determination, while Morocco proposes a regime of autonomy under its sovereignty. However, Rabat controls approximately 80 per cent of the territory and has launched numerous development projects.

Trump recognised Moroccan sovereignty as a strategic exchange following Morocco's support for the Abraham Accords months before leaving the White House. However, the arrival of Joe Biden has revitalised the hopes of the Sahrawi people for a reversal of the situation. The Secretary of State himself, Antony Blinken, asked UN Secretary-General António Guterres in March to expedite the appointment of a new special envoy to Western Sahara following the resignation of Horst Köhler in May 2019.

For Morocco, there is no process without Algeria. During the two summits in Geneva, in December 2018 and March 2019, the Kingdom imposed the presence of Algiers as an interested party in the negotiations established by the United Nations. The next meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the Western Sahara conflict will be held on 21 April following the resumption of hostilities last November, which ended a ceasefire that had been in place for more than three decades.  

Fighting between the Polisario Front and the Moroccan army followed Morocco's deployment of troops to the southern tip of Western Sahara in an attempt to dislodge pro-independence fighters blocking the only trade route to West Africa, which they claim is illegitimate. Since then, Polisario has claimed to be in a state of self-defence.