South Africa’s “gesticulations and agitations” around the Moroccan Sahara reflect its “inability to act on the file”, said, Thursday in Rabat, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans residing in Morocco. stranger, Nasser Bourita.
“Whether a towel or a red carpet has been erected does not alter the case in any way, but rather expresses the inability to influence”Bourita said during a press briefing after a meeting with his Belgian counterpart Hadja Lahbib, in response to a question about the welcome given by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to the head of the Polisario militia.
The Minister observed that with “all the developments in the case, South Africa finds itself on the wrong side of history”, and this at a time when the tendency is to reach a solution in the framework of the United Nations. “A solution based on international legitimacy, which distinguishes a state from a militia, a flag from a rag, is what people expect from a credible country”he pointed out, indicating that “Morocco will continue to defend its interests, and to use all the means at its disposal. »
Bourita further pointed out that the behavior of Pretoria with regard to the question of the Moroccan Sahara “harms bilateral relations and everything that has been built, especially in economic circles”. “A South African company cannot make money in Morocco by standing idly by in the face of the actions of its government”he said, recalling the clear speech of King Mohammed VI of August 20 in which the Sovereign had affirmed that “The Sahara issue is the prism through which Morocco considers its international environment”. “Morocco is not surprised by what is happening, (note: by Pretoria) it’s something we got used to, and which has no effect”said the Minister, adding that “all that South Africa has sown in the past, it will reap in the future, namely that there will be no impact on the file, its evolution and the direction it takes”.
The Minister recalled that South Africa recognized the puppet entity in 2005 thinking that the course of the case would change and that Africa and the world would follow suit, specifying that what really happened is that, since 2005, 20 countries have withdrawn their recognition, 10 in Africa, including 7 in the vicinity of Pretoria and that ” Nothing has changed “ although South Africa has joined the Security Council three times since 2005 (in 2007, 2011 and 2019).
“South Africa notes that half of the African continent, 23 countries, have opened consulates in the southern provinces, including several countries from its direct neighborhood and region”Bourita continued, noting that 90 countries, including Belgium and nearly 10 other European countries, today express a positive position in relation to the autonomy plan that Morocco presented in 2007. “Of these 90 countries, 30 are African countries that adopt the same positive attitude”, added the Minister, who welcomed the approach “constructive” adopted by the African Union on the subject of the Sahara.