Burkina Faso has reaffirmed support for Morocco’s Autonomy Plan, urging the global community to acknowledge and endorse what the West African country described as the most serious and credible basis to end the dispute over Western Sahara.
Burkinabe Foreign Affairs Minister Karamoko Jean Marie Traore conveyed his country’s support for the Moroccan initiative during and following talks in Rabat today with his Moroccan counterpart Nasser Bourita.
During the meeting, the Burkinabe diplomat stressed his country’s steadfast support for Morocco’s territorial integrity and sovereignty over its different regions.
Traore also expressed Burkina Faso’s support for the UN-led political process and the UN’s “distinguished work” aimed at finding a mutually acceptable and lasting political solution to the Sahara dispute.
In addition, the top Burkina diplomat expressed his hopes for the Moroccan autonomy proposal to “receive everyone’s support.”
Read also: More Countries Echo Growing Support for Morocco’s Territorial Integrity
Burkina Faso has in recent years been one of Morocco’s strongest allies in Africa, with the West African nation having already joined the growing cohort of countries that have opened diplomatic representations in Morocco’s southern provinces.
The country opened its consulate general in Dakhla on October 23, 2020. To date, more than 30 countries opened their consulates either in Dakhla or Laayoune to reaffirm their support for the Moroccan position.
Morocco’s Autonomy Plan has been receiving genuine support from the international community at all levels on the global stage. During the latest regular session meetings at the C-24 that took place from June 10-21, several countries reiterated their support for the Moroccan initiative.
One of the latest countries to have renewed support for the Moroccan initiative was the Commonwealth of Dominica, which reiterated its full support for the Autonomy Plan and hailed it as a realistic and pragmatic basis to end the Sahara dispute.
Philbert Aaron, Permanent representative of the Commonwealth of Dominica to the UN, said during a C-24 meeting this week that more than 107 countries support Morocco’s autonomy initiative.
Many countries also reiterated their support for Morocco’s Autonomy Plan during the C-24 session, including Gulf countries, Guatemala, Burundi, the Republic of Guinea, Antigua and Barbuda, as well as Senegal.
