Jordan, second Arab State to have a consulate in Morocco’s Sahara region

Jordan plans to open a consulate in Laayoune, the largest city in the Moroccan Sahara, amid a growing support for Morocco at the Arab and African levels.

 

The decision was announced by King Abdullah II of Jordan during phone talks with King Mohammed VI Thursday, the Moroccan Royal Office said in a statement.

 

King Mohammed VI expressed to King Abdullah II his esteem and gratitude following “this important decision, which is part of the supportive positions that the Hashemite Kingdom is continuously taking concerning the issue of Morocco’s territorial integrity,” the statement said.

Thus Jordan will be the second Arab state after the UAE to have a consulate in Laayoune, in a move that signals the legitimacy and international and Arab support for Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara and for its territorial integrity.

The significance of this announcement comes at a context Morocco succeeded in clearing a key border passage linking its southern provinces to Mauritania.

During the talks, King Abdullah II welcomed the “decisions taken by HM the King to secure the movement of people and goods in the region of Guerguarat in the Moroccan Sahara,” reads the Royal Office statement.

The Jordanian King also congratulated Morocco for the success “of this operation and the re-opening of the crossing to the secure movement of people and goods from the Kingdom of Morocco to the countries of sub-Saharan Africa.”

The Royal cabinet highlighted the strong bonds between the Monarchs of Morocco and Jordan and underscored “the tradition of continuous consultation and permanent coordination between the two Kings, as well as the relations of fruitful cooperation and active solidarity between the two brotherly Kingdoms.”

The Jordanian open support for Morocco adds to similar firm stands in support of Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara expressed by all Gulf countries, Somalia, Djibouti, Yemen and the Comoros as well as of course Morocco’s African friends.

Even countries far away from the continent such as Turkey and Brazil stressed the need for respecting the free flow of commercial and passenger traffic between Morocco and the rest of Africa.

Only Algeria, which arms and feeds the Polisario, deviated and directed its venom to attack Morocco’s territorial integrity in the media. This comes as Algiers faces a growing diplomatic isolation that makes its voice inaudible as it seems more like a relic of the old war.

So far, the reality is that 17 states have embassies in the Moroccan Sahara and more countries are set to join a pro-Moroccan wave within Africa and beyond.