Peru: Congress calls on President Dina Boluarte to rethink her position on the Western Sahara
The dismissal last December of former president Pedro Castillo has left Peru in an unprecedented political crisis. In just sixteen months, Pedro Castillo's term in office suffered from considerable governmental and ministerial instability. Overall, five governments were formed, several ministers resigned, and others were dismissed, not to mention the six investigations into alleged corruption carried out against the former Peruvian president.
However, the issue of greatest concern to Congress today is the legacy of Pedro Castillo's position on the Western Sahara question. It should be remembered that the policy advocated by the former president was favourable to the Polisario Front, a political, armed and pro-independence movement in the Western Sahara. This stance led the country into a diplomatic crisis with its old ally Morocco, a crisis that did not subside after Pedro Castillo's dismissal and arrest.
Congress calls on the executive to rethink its position on the SADR
In a letter to Peruvian President Dina Boluarte, the chairwoman of the Peruvian Congress Defence Committee Patricia Chirinos called on the head of state to “reconsider as soon as possible” her country's position on the Moroccan Sahara by “dissociating” Peru from the SADR.
The MP recalled that Morocco and Peru share a “common history” which “invites us to strengthen and consolidate ties with the Kingdom of Morocco, an increasingly important power in Africa and in the current system of international relations, and to work together to promote peace, security and respect for territorial integrity”.
She also recalled Morocco was the first Arab and African country whose Head of State visited Peru. “The historic visit to Peru by His Majesty King Mohammed VI in 2004 [...] marked a turning point in our bilateral relations, as he was the first Arab and African head of state to visit Peru”, said Patricia Chirinos.
For her, it is all the more important to normalise relations between Rabat and Lima once again as the two States are preparing to celebrate “the sixtieth anniversary of uninterrupted bilateral relations, established with diplomatic missions open in both capitals since 1986, and always presided over by ambassadors extraordinary and plenipotentiary, a sign of a high-level, continuous and permanent political-diplomatic link”.
In her letter, Patricia Chirinos recalls that relations between Morocco and Peru have often been weakened by the dispute over the SADR. Peru recognised the SADR in 1984, “in an international context marked by the bipolar world of the Cold War”. The Peruvian MP welcomes the updating of this position in 1996, “when this recognition was suspended, thus opening up a promising new bilateral chapter between the Peruvian and Moroccan states”.
Twenty-five years after this declaration, former president Pedro Castillo announced that Peru would renew relations with the SADR, a position Patricia Chirinos deplores in her letter to the executive. “This positioning of our foreign policy was seriously affected on 8 September 2021, when, in an unusual and unprecedented act, former president Pedro Castillo decided that our country should backtrack and resume relations with the SADR, which was seen as a break with an unshakeable Peruvian position of more than 24 years of unconditional respect for international law”, she said. Although this position was modified in August 2022, Pedro Castillo reaffirmed his support for the Polisario Front the following month, accelerating its downfall.
The Chairwoman of the Defence Committee said that she was “systematically and constantly concerned about the issue of the Moroccan Sahara”, recalling the status conferred on it under international law. “The SADR is not a real entity, because it does not meet the basic requirements of a State, which is even more true if we take into account that it is not recognised by international organisations such as the United Nations, the European Union, the Arab League or the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation”, she said.
In addition to the fact that recognition of Western Sahara would be a breach of international law, the Peruvian MP is concerned about “a series of new and emerging threats based, among other things, on the interconnection between states that do not respect democratic principles and terrorist organisations, separatist movements or organised crime”. In her view, “this situation poses a serious threat to the security of our countries, a threat that has increased in the Latin American region, putting our peoples, our unity, and the peace and sovereignty of our States in grave danger of vulnerability”.
It is therefore imperative and “expected” that Peru corrects its position on the SADR, which “will be perceived [by Morocco] as a transcendent act of friendship, especially on the part of a stateswoman” and will be welcomed “as a gesture of genuine identification with the Kingdom's territorial integrity”.
A position supported by other Peruvians personalities
The former Peruvian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Miguel Angel Rodriguez Mackay, shares the Congress' point of view. He published an opinion piece last Friday in the Peruvian daily Expreso, stating that his country should follow the common-sense approach adopted by countries such as the United States, Spain and Israel, which have recently recognised Morocco's sovereignty over the Western Sahara, as have the vast majority of countries in the international community.
The Vice-President of the Federation of Peruvian Journalists, Ricardo Sanchez Serra, also supported Patricia Chirinos' letter in a tweet. Sanchez Serra had also denounced in a column published on the news website CafeViena Peru's “ideological choice” of a terrorist entity that violates human rights, instead of strengthening its relations with Morocco and observing “positive neutrality within the UN” regarding the Kingdom's territorial integrity.
To date, Dina Boluarte, interim president following the dismissal of her predecessor, has not responded to this appeal. The media Maroc Diplomatique considers the Peruvian President's decision to be “decisive for the future of relations between Peru and Morocco”. “The international community is waiting with interest to see whether Peru will choose to restore diplomatic balance and implement measures conducive to resolving this crisis”, it concludes.
Americas Coordinator: José Antonio Sierra.