Morocco’s Foreign Affairs Minister Nasser Bourita said yesterday that as a “dissenting voice without any influence or weight,” South Africa “was and will remain a secondary player” with regard to the Sahara. The statement came during a press conference following the Ministerial Segment of the High-Level Conference on Middle-Income Countries as he responded to a question regarding the UNSG Personal Envoy for Sahara Staffan de Mistura’s recent visit to South Africa.
Bourita stated that the current issue of the Sahara is marked by the increasing number of withdrawals of countries’ recognition of the Polisario.
Moreover, increasingly, major international powers are recognizing Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara and are supporting Morocco’s autonomy plan.
He noted that Morocco’s position on the Sahara incorporates three “non-negotiable” components: identifying the appropriate parties involved in the regional dispute, adoption of roundtable discussions under the UN process, and implementation of the autonomy plan reflecting the Kingdom’s sovereignty and territorial integrity as the only and unique solution to the conflict.
These three elements constitute the fundamental pillars of Morocco’s action and interaction with international parties and the UNSG Personal Envoy for the Sahara. When these principles are “violated,” Morocco takes “appropriate measures,” warned the FM, adding that the Kingdom deals with UN envoys in accordance with the principles of transparency, consultation, and coordination for the success of this process.
Bourita went on to say that South Africa, which has “held a negative position on the Sahara issue for twenty years,” lacks the ability or capacity to influence the course of the matter. He suggested that South Africa’s ineffectiveness has been manifest in its inability to influence decisions even in its own geographic region: Out of 27 countries that have withdrawn their recognition of the Polisario, half of those are members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and a third of them have opened consulates in Dakhla and Laâyoune.
“Although South Africa has been a member of the Security Council three times since recognizing the Polisario,” the FM said, “it has been unable to prevent the adoption of any Security Council resolution, all of which support Morocco’s autonomy initiative, identify the parties to the conflict, and adopt the roundtable process.” He also noted Morocco’s election to the presidency of the UN Human Rights Council for the year 2024 received a large majority of votes.
Bourita observed that South Africa has also been ineffective within the African Union. While South Africa has attempted to obstruct Morocco’s return to the pan-African organization and its access to the Peace and Security Council, the Kingdom has remained strongly present for six years, he said.