The King of Morocco, Mohamed VI , warned this Saturday that his country will not maintain commercial relations with countries that have “vague or ambivalent positions” on the Moroccan character of Western Sahara.
“To those who hold vague or ambivalent positions, we declare that Morocco will not engage with them in any economic or commercial approach that excludes the Moroccan Sahara ,” said the Alawite monarch in an official speech delivered on the occasion of the 46th anniversary of the Green March .
The Moroccan king thus secretly refers to the September rulings of the General Court of the EU (TEU) that annulled the fisheries agreement between the EU and Morocco for including Western Sahara and the tariff advantages that the block grants to the importation of products agricultural and fisheries of the old Spanish colony. EU governments have until December 16 to appeal the sentences.
Mohamed VI has also reaffirmed Morocco’s commitment to the ceasefire signed in 1991 with the Polisario Front and to the negotiation process sponsored by the UN to resolve the dispute in the former Spanish colony of the Sahara.
However, he has warned that “the Moroccan character of the Sahara will never be on the agenda of any negotiation .” “If we do enter into negotiations, it is mainly to achieve a peaceful solution to this artificial regional conflict,” he asserted. “On this basis, we reaffirm Morocco’s commitment to the political process led by the UN,” he indicated.
In addition, Mohamed VI has highlighted the “peaceful action” by which Moroccan military troops evicted Saharawi activists from the Guerguerat pass and the road that connects Morocco and Mauritania on November 13, 2020. This action was considered by the Polisario Front as a violation of the 1991 ceasefire and therefore it has been terminated.
” On November 13, 2020, our Royal Armed Forces restored the free movement of people and goods in the Guerguerat pass, which links the two sister countries, Morocco and Mauritania,” Mohamed VI stressed.
In addition, the Moroccan monarch has highlighted that the new US Administration has maintained the recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara decided by the now former President Donald Trump.
“The sovereign decision of the United States of America to recognize the full and total sovereignty of Morocco over its Sahara is a source of pride for us,” he stressed. “It confirms the irreversible nature of the ongoing political process: launch a final solution based on the Initiative for Autonomy, under Moroccan sovereignty,” he added.
For Mohamed VI, “the Moroccan character of the Sahara is a truth as enduring as it is immutable .” “The legitimacy of our cause is validated by the annals of history, because such is the deep and ardent desire of the Saharawi population and finally because international recognition confirms it,” said the Moroccan king.
The former Spanish colony of Western Sahara was occupied by Morocco in the 1975 Green March despite resistance from the Polisario Front. The 1991 ceasefire was signed with a view to holding a self-determination referendum, but differences over the preparation of the census and the inclusion or not of Moroccan settlers has so far prevented its convocation.
The Polisario ended the ceasefire in November 2020 after incidents at the Guerguerat pass, on the border with Mauritania. Rabat considers the area between the post and the border with Mauritania as “no man’s land” , while the Polisario Front considers it its own territory.
Morocco defends the vote for the autonomy of the Sahara as a political solution to the dispute, while the Polisario Front rejects any vote that does not include independence among the options.
