Rabat – Sixty-two out of 108 senators in Colombia’s senate voted against their president’s decision to restore diplomatic ties with Polisario.
The senators voting against the decision of leftist President Gustavo Petro represent an overwhelming majority, including the most important Colombian political parties.
Secretary General of the Senate Gregorio Eljach Pacheco read the petition against Petro’s decision on Tuesday in a plenary session of the legislative chamber.
“We, the undersigned, the senators, express our categorical rejection and absolute disagreement with the position taken by the Ministry of Foreign Relations on August 10, 2022, which confirmed the validity of the joint statement signed on February 27, 1985” with the Polisario,” the Secretary General of the senate said.
The signatories ruled that the decision of the ministry contradicts Colombia’s “basic principles,” stipulating the non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries.
The petition emphasized that such a decision has “dire consequences, and destroyed the excellent relations that have always united us with Morocco and which we hope to continue.”
Senator German Alcides Blanco Alvarez, a member of the Conservative Party, which is part of the coalition government, submitted the petition. The document conveyed senators’ rejection to “re-establish diplomatic relations” with the separatist group, emphasizing that Polsiario’s self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is not “recognized by the vast majority of countries in the world nor by the United Nations.”
Senators from nine parties in the chamber voted against the foreign policy decision, stressing that this decision concerns the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Morocco, a country with which Colombia has had diplomatic ties for over 43 years.
“By searching for a resolution dating back more than 37 years, it is clear that this decision was taken without assessing the situation, and without considering its consequences, which severely affected the excellent ties of friendship that historically have had with Morocco,” the petition highlighted.
The senators argued that the Sahara dispute took a “decisive” turn after Morocco’s submission of its Autonomy Plan in 2007, recalling the chorus of countries that endorsed the Moroccan proposal as a credible and serious basis to end the dispute over Western Sahara.
In August, Colombia’s foreign ministry suddenly announced the “validity of the Joint Communique signed with the Polisario on February 27, 1985.” The joint communique documented the establishment of relations between Colombia and the self-proclaimed SADR in 1985 under the government of Belisario Bentancur.
Colombia, however, decided to freeze diplomatic ties with the separatist group during Andres Pastrana’s presidency around the turn of the millennium.
The sudden foreign policy shift to endorse a 37-year-old statement came days after the inauguration of Petro, a former rebel who was sworn in as Colombia’s new president in August.
