Morocco shall never allow its Sahara to become a diplomatic maneuvering ground for South Africa – Diplomat

Morocco will never allow its Sahara to become a diplomatic maneuvering ground for South Africa, rejects any interaction with Pretoria on the Moroccan Sahara issue, and will never allow South Africa to have any role in this issue.

The remarks were made by Morocco’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Omar Hilale Diplomat, in comments on the recent visit of the UN Secretary General’s Personal Envoy for the Sahara, Staffan de Mistura to Pretoria.

In an interview with MAP news agency, Omar Hilal said that Morocco has not been consulted or even informed at any time about the visit. However, as soon as the Kingdom became aware of this planned visit, several weeks ago, it directly expressed to Mr. de Mistura, as well as to the UN Secretariat, Morocco’s categorical opposition to this trip, as well as its utter rejection of any interaction with Pretoria on the Moroccan Sahara issue.

“I dare to hope that this is not a question of defiance to Morocco on the part of Mr. de Mistura, but of a simple error of assessment of South Africa’s true posture. In any case, Morocco clearly warned him about the consequences of his trip on the political process,” the Moroccan diplomat said.

As to the legitimate and objective reasons behind Morocco’s opposition to this trip to Pretoria, Omar Hilale said Morocco reminded the Personal Envoy of the fundamentals of his mandate, which are his letter of appointment by the UN Secretary General, which specifies that he will have to work exclusively with the four stakeholders in the political process, as well as on the basis of the Security Council resolutions adopted since 2007.

These resolutions make no reference to South Africa, and even less to any alleged role or contribution of this country to the political process, he said, explaining among the multiple elements disqualifying South Africa from any interference in the Moroccan Sahara issue, the fact that this country recognizes the chimerical entity and supports the polisario politically, diplomatically, militarily, and at the media level.

“For all these reasons, Morocco will never allow South Africa to have any role in the Moroccan Sahara issue. Pretoria has been and remains toxic for the question of the Moroccan Sahara,” he insisted.

Regarding the “approaches currently being discussed at the United Nations” referred to by the South African Foreign Minister after her meeting with De Mistura, the Moroccan diplomat expressed surprise at these remarks as Morocco is not aware of any approach. “And if there are approaches, it is with Morocco and the other parties that they must be discussed and not with South Africa.”

He stated further that for the Kingdom, there is only one approach. It is that of round tables, with the exclusive participation of Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania and the polisario, as recommended by successive resolutions of the Security Council. “This is why Morocco hopes that Mr. de Mistura will devote his efforts more to convincing Algeria to resume its place at the Round Table, as was the case in 2018 and 2019.”

There is a clear and strong mandate from the Security Council to facilitate a political, realistic, pragmatic, lasting and compromise solution to this regional dispute, he insisted, recalling that King Mohammed VI has charted the path for the definitive settlement of this regional dispute through the Moroccan Autonomy Initiative, within the framework of the Kingdom’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The Sovereign’s vision draws its strength from international law, and its legality from its compliance with the parameters decreed by Security Council resolutions, he said, noting that the broad recognition and international support for the Moroccanness of the Sahara and the Autonomy Initiative reinforce the royal vision for the Saharan provinces, definitively and eternally Moroccan.