Strengthening of bilateral relations and gradual and expansive support for Morocco
The friendship between Morocco and its African counterparts is growing and strengthening. This is corroborated by the upward strengthening of bilateral relations between Morocco and its partners on the African continent. Some recent events reaffirm this - they have taken place both in the last weeks of December and in the last weeks of 2020. For example, the Union of the Comoros and the Gambia - acknowledging Morocco's African vision and the strong impetus it has given to Moroccan foreign policy in deepening its cooperation with the continent, but also the security and stability enjoyed by the Saharan provinces in a complex regional context - opened consulates general in southern Morocco. At that time, some sources announced that soon other African countries would join the above-mentioned States in opening consulates, for two reasons: on the one hand, to deepen bilateral relations with Morocco, and on the other hand, to provide consular services to their citizens (residents of the southern provinces of Morocco in line with the migration policy promoted and encouraged by the Maghreb country).
Indeed, other States have joined in - Ivory Coast opened today its general consulate in Laâyoune -. These facts reiterate or reaffirm the good bilateral climate between Morocco and different African countries and the will to advance in the common orientations and strategic actions that result in development and African welfare. It should be noted that the Ivory Coast was also the first African country to open a consulate of an honorary nature in Laâyoune - the main city of the south which today houses several consulates general. There are almost twelve African countries that are moving in this direction and seven that have so far opened consular offices in the southern provinces. These gradual and expansive actions do not seem to be reversible. On the contrary, they have been assumed as part of a broad dynamic and favorable to the Statute of Autonomy proposed by Morocco for the resolution of the North African territorial dispute which is exclusively dealt with by the United Nations Security Council.
Morocco has assumed the forcefulness of the diplomatic actions -of different African nations-, as an effective and unquestionable support to its territorial integrity, in practical consonance with the paradigm promoted by King Mohammed VI for the foreign policy of the kingdom -which consists of the solid defence of the Moroccan sovereignty and the understanding of it by the African countries based on the full knowledge of the legal, historical, political and religious elements that link Morocco with its Saharan provinces-. He has referred here, in recent times, to the professionalization of the diplomatic service and the realism of the Moroccan foreign policy that is evident, also, in the consequent recognition by its African partners of the Moroccan character of the Sahara.
The recognition and support of Morocco's territorial integrity, as well as the opening of consulates general by African states, constitutes a sovereign act of the state that assumes this position on principles of equality, sovereignty and respect for the territorial integrity of states, and therefore, does not admit the intervention of third parties (states). And, in addition to being an act of sovereignty, it is fully consistent with diplomatic rules and practices in accordance with the 1963 Vienna Convention on the Establishment of Consular Relations. Therefore, the emphasis of sources consulted in Morocco that underline that the opening of consulates general has been the object of legal and institutional processes duly ratified in the councils of ministers and, subsequently, published in the official decrees.
The Moroccan Sahara has a considerable potential and can play a role as a pole of development and opportunity for Africa - as CPLATAM indicated weeks ago -, as long as it overcomes the situation of exception to make normality possible, as well as advancing in the consolidation of some processes and, particularly, in the promotion and formation of a constitutional citizenship, speaking specifically of individuals who are aware of their rights and obligations as constitutional citizens of the Kingdom of Morocco.