Rabat – Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Bourita, announced on Wednesday that Dakhla or Laayoune will soon host a ministerial meeting of “all countries that have opened consulates in the southern provinces”
Bourita said that Morocco and its partners will work over the next few months to organize the ministerial meeting in an effort to “create greater coordination between these countries.”
The top Moroccan diplomat made the announcement during a press conference organized on the occasion of the opening of Cape Verde’s consulate general in Dakhla.
Bourita noted that approximately 40% of African countries have opened consulates in Laayoune or Dakhla, adding this reflects a regional trend in support of Morocco’s territorial integrity.
More than 27 countries have so far opened diplomatic representations in the southern provinces, with Dakhla hosting 15 of the consulates.
Despite vocal opposition from pro-Polisario circles, Morocco has succeeded over the past years to gather international support for its Autonomy Plan as the only serious and credible basis to solve the decades-long dispute.
Establishing the Moroccanness of Western Sahara has been a centerpiece of the country’s foreign policy for the past four decades.
In his latest speech, given on the occasion of the Revolution of the King and the People, King Mohammed VI stressed that Morocco’s allies and friends need to express unambiguous support for the country’s stance on the Western Sahara dispute.
“I…expect certain states among Morocco’s traditional partners as well as new ones, whose stances concerning the Moroccanness of the Sahara are ambiguous, to clarify their positions and reconsider them in a manner that leaves no room for doubt,” said the Moroccan monarch.
On Friday, Morocco withdrew its ambassador from Tunisia after Tunisian President Kais Saied hosted Polisario leader Brahim Ghali ahead of the latest TICAD summit. The bold move, which made international headlines, reflects Morocco’s readiness to cut diplomatic ties with “brotherly” nations if they hold a “hostile and detrimental attitude” against its sovereignty over the Western Sahara region.
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