In desperate attempts to gain international support, representatives of the separatist Polisario Front are turning to unfounded lies.
Rabat – The Austrian National Council has categorically denied having received a representative from the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).
The parliament’s statement came three days after a member of the Polisario Front, Hayat Rguibi, shared a picture of her with the President of the Austrian National Council, Wolfgang Sobotka.
In her tweet, Rguibi thanked members from the Austrian institution and its president for meeting with her.
In response, the Austrian Parliament tweeted that Rguibi met with the president in unofficial settings and shared the photo without his consent.
“The photo of Hayat Rguibi and the President of the National Council was spontaneous in a cafe in Vienna and was shared without the President’s consent. It was not an official meeting, much less a sign of the President’s support for the Polisario movement,” reads the tweet.
A few hours after the Austrian Parliament denounced the use of the photo for propagandist reasons, Rguibi decided to keep the photo online and respond in another tweet, calling the parliament’s statement a “maneuver of the Moroccan regime.”
In an unfounded statement, Rguibi said that her visit to Austria was successful and chose to not talk about its results.
While the desperate move aimed to destabilize relations between Morocco and Austria, the European country is known for its neutral stance on the Western Sahara issue, supporting the UN-led process.
In March 2018, the Austrian Parliament rejected a draft resolution that challenged Morocco’s territorial integrity.
The pro-separatist resolution, guided by a member of the Austrian Social Democratic Party, Petra Baur, suggested an extension of the mandate of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO). The proposition, however, received strong opposition from other Austrian political parties.
Diplomatic ties between Morocco and Austria date back to 1783. The two countries enjoy bilateral cooperation in several fields, including politics, diplomacy, economy, and culture.
