Morocco wins Salvador’s support on Sahara issue

Salvador withdrew its recognition of the Algerian-backed Polisario separatist entity putting another nail in the coffin of the separatists in Latin America while voicing support for Morocco’s territorial integrity and sovereignty over the Sahara.

 

El Salvador has decided, as of today (Saturday, June 15) to no longer recognize the separatist entity “RASD”, announced the new Salvadoran President, Nayib Bukele, who affirmed his country’s support for the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Morocco

 

“From this day, El Salvador breaks diplomatic relations with the Polisario Front and no longer recognizes the RASD,” announced the new President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, on his tweeter account.

President Nayib Bukele’s announcement was confirmed by a joint statement signed by Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita and his Salvadoran counterpart, Alexandra Hill Tinoco.

 

“The government of Salvador informs the kingdom of Morocco that it has decided to withdraw its recognition of SADR (Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, ndlr) and to sever all ties with this entity,” said the Salvadorian government in a joint statement co-signed by visiting Moroccan foreign minister Nasser Bourita and his Salvadorian counterpart Alexandra Hill Tinoco.

“This decision will be communicated to the UN and to regional bodies,” the statement adds.

Salvador also underscored support for Morocco’s territorial integrity and sovereignty and welcomed the Kingdom’s autonomy initiative as the sole basis to reach a solution to the regional dispute.

 

Earlier this month, on the new President’s inauguration, Salvador’s foreign ministry announced that it will review its stance on the Sahara issue as part of an upgrade of its foreign policy with a new democratic leadership at the helm of the country. That’s done!

 

The Polisario front, which by the past used ideological rhetoric to delude South American leaders, is now on the demise in Latin America where only failing states and authoritarian regime such as Maduro’s Venezuela and Cuba are still attached to defending separatism.

The Polisario has been dealt severe blows in South America recently after Paraguay joined the rank of democratic countries that back Morocco’s territorial integrity and sovereignty over the Sahara.

A series of similar stands were expressed by other Latin American states, including Surinam, Uruguay and Peru which came to terms with viewing the Polisario as a totalitarian organization fed by an ideological anachronism peculiar to the Cold War era.

Over the last two years, some 46 countries have withdrawn their recognition of the SADR entity out of 80 that previously recognized it in a Cold War context.

Furthermore, as a relic of the cold war, the Polisario remains obedient and dependent financially and diplomatically on its paymaster, Algeria, which uses it to achieve regional hegemony to the detriment of regional stability.

As an Algerian invention, the Polisario has benefited from Algiers oil mantra to buy support notably in Africa where the separatist entity was admitted as a member of the Organization of African Unity in 1984 leading to Morocco’s withdrawal. But Morocco’s triumphal return to the African Union was preceded with a motion submitted by 28 states asking the AU to freeze the Polisario’s membership.

Support for Morocco’s territorial integrity is a course that is set to continue as more countries in the African Union see the Polisario’s membership as an aberration in contradiction with international law because the Polisario is not a state and lacks state attributes. These include two-thirds of AU countries including African heavy-weights such as Nigeria and Ethiopia.

Meanwhile, Morocco is expanding its influence in the continent through active engagement along a solidarity based African policy yielding projects that address Africa’s pressing issues of economic and human development.