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Rabat – Morocco may have accepted the UN invitation for talks on Western Sahara, but will use them as a platform to remind participants of its firm conditions.
On Friday, Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita spoke about the UN’s invitation to Western Sahara talks in Geneva in December.
Bourita, who attended a closed meeting at the House of Representatives along with a committee from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said: “We are not going to the negotiations for negotiations.”
He said that Morocco will attend the UN round-table to reaffirm its conditions, which emphasize Morocco’s autonomy plan as a just solution to end the conflict.
According to Akhbar Al Yaoum, the Moroccan official also addressed Algeria’s responsibility in the conflict as a main party and not an observer.
Algeria “is the one which created the problem, and it is Algeria that needs to contribute to finding a solution for it.”
Morocco was the first party to respond to the invitations sent by the UN secretary-general’s personal envoy for Western Sahara, Horst Kohler.
Polisario also responded favorably to the invitations. The UN secretary-general said in his recent report on the Western Sahara situation, released on October 3, that he is confident that neighboring countries, Mauritania and Algeria, will also respond favorably to the invitations.
During the House of Representatives meeting, Bourita discussed several other issues, including Morocco’s decision to cut ties with Iran for alleged Polisario-Hezbollah collusion and the EU-Morocco fisheries agreement.
The official also commented on his meeting with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the 73rd UN General Assembly, which took place September 18 to October 5.
Bourita said, “There is nothing wrong about Morocco-US relations.” He added that Trump does not interfere in Morocco’s internal affairs.
While Iran claimed that Morocco severed ties due to pressure from other powers, Bourita denied that Morocco’s move was a result of US pressure to support its position against Iran.
He added that Morocco has evidence of Polisario-Hezbollah collusion.
“Maybe our decision coincided with the US escalation, but we have pictures and an evidence of Iran’s involvement in supporting Polisario through its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah.”
Bourita also discussed Iran’s alleged strategy to spread Shi’ism in Africa, referring to the arrest of the top Hezbollah financier Kassim Tajideen in Casablanca in 2017.
