Rabat – United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday welcomed Morocco’s continuous cooperation with international bodies to find peaceful and sustainable solutions to the Western Sahara dispute and find peace in Libya.
On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Guterres sent warm greetings to King Mohammed VI in a meeting with Morocco’s Head of Government Aziz Akhannouch, Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita, and Permanent Representative to the UN Omar Hilale.
The UN top diplomat further thanked Morocco for its cooperation with the Personal Envoy for the UN peacekeeping operation in Western Sahara, MINURSO. He stressed the country’s role in advancing global peace through the contributions of the Royal Armed Forces in UN peacekeeping operations such as the UN mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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Morocco’s important role in multilateralism
Guterres also congratulated Morocco for its constructive role in addressing political instability and the tumultuous power transition in Libya.
Morocco has notably hosted a series of dialogues between rival parties in Libya, pushing for a peaceful solution to the lingering conflict fueled by internal divisions and foreign meddling. Since the overthrow of the Qaddafi regime, Libya has turned into a hub of political instability and illicit activities, threatening regional security and prosperity.
However, Morocco’s mediation efforts have been instrumental in bringing together the different factions under one roof, which has consolidated the work of the UN-led political process and gained the support of different Libyan actors, the UN Libya mission, and the United States.
Still, any sense of national unity remains out of sight in Libya. As Guterres pointed out earlier this week during the General Assembly: “In Libya, divisions continue to jeopardize the country.”
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In addition to sustaining peace at home and globally, Morocco has worked on promoting inter-religious dialogue as well as alleviating the impact of the ongoing global energy and food crisis on Africa, thanks to OCP-led fertilizer donations.
By supporting security and stability within its borders and across Africa, Morocco’s diplomacy has been increasingly distinguished as a sound example of multilateralism, with Rabat being celebrated by developing countries as the capital of south-south cooperation.
Guterres warns of fragmented global order
Given the rising polarization within the global order amid the war in Ukraine, the UN agencies and their key figure Guterres have been calling for the respect of multilateral diplomacy exemplified in the Moroccan approach.
“Even the various groupings set up outside the multilateral system by some members of the international community have fallen into the trap of geopolitical divides, like in the G-20,” the UN Secretary-General said on Tuesday in an address to the General Assembly
“At one stage, international relations seemed to be moving toward a G-2 world,” he said, referring to the Cold War era, adding that “now we risk ending up with G-nothing.”
The UN chief summarized the current global divides as “No cooperation. No dialogue. No collective problem solving,” adding that “the reality is that we live in a world where the logic of cooperation and dialogue is the only path forward.”
In such a context, countries with established spheres of influence and a long history of multilateral cooperation, such as Morocco, can serve as examples for a more cooperative approach to maintaining the post-World War II world order.
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