Rabat – In response to circulating news claiming the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the Polisario separatists and South Sudan, Juba has reiterated its commitment to relations with Morocco and its support for the UN-led political process in Western Sahara.
South Sudan’s Foreign Ministry on Friday issued a statement explaining the country’s interest in strengthening “cordial diplomatic relations” to “achieve the mutual interest” of the two “friendly” countries and peoples.
“The Republic of South Sudan, under the leadership of President Salva Kiir Mayardit, re-affirms its resolve to further strengthen relations between the Kingdom of Morocco and the Republic of South Sudan,” said the statement.
Denouncing reports of diplomatic rapprochement with the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), the statement stressed that South Sudan “recognizes only states who are members of the UN, [and] considers that contact with a delegation does not mean in anyway state recognition.”
The South Sudanese official statement comes in reaction to earlier publications by the pro-Polisario Sahara Press Service and Algerian media that celebrated what they have described as a “new diplomatic victory” for the “Sahrawi cause.” The articles claimed that Juba and the Polisario Front’s self-proclaimed SADR are restoring diplomatic relations after a four-year suspension.
On Tuesday, South Sudan’s Hussein Abdelbagi Akol and Polisario diplomat Mohamed Salem Ould Salek met in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. The meeting was interpreted by media outlets known for their affiliation to Algeria and the self-proclaimed SADR as a “setback” for Morocco.
However, South Sudan’s latest statement lambasted these claims as a distortion of its stance on the Sahara dispute, stating that “the meeting does not in any way negate [Juba’s] strategic bilateral relations with Morocco.”
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Over the past years, Juba has repeatedly expressed interest in advancing economic and diplomatic ties with Rabat while notably distancing itself from the Sahrawi separatists.
“South Sudan has never had and is not maintaining a relation with this separatist entity,” President Mayardit said in 2018 after news of his country’s withdrawal of recognition of the self-proclaimed SADR made headlines.
Mayardit added, “We fully respect the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Morocco.”
Two years later, South Sudan’s ambassador to Morocco Riek Puok Riek said: “We support the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Morocco,” arguing that his country “only establishes relations with sovereign states.”
