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Rabat – The newly elected British government has delivered a significant setback to the Polisario Front separatist group and their hostility towards the legality of commercial activities between the UK and Morocco.
“We do not consider commercial activities in Western Sahara to be illegal, provided they respect the interests of the Sahrawi people,” Labour MP Hamish Falconer said.
The response came after the UK government received a question from an MP, who asked the Minister of Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office “whether he has had recent discussions with his counterpart in Morocco on the trade of natural resources originating in Western Sahara.”
The response aligns with the former government’s position of preserving all cooperation agreements with Morocco, including the Association Agreement between Morocco and the UK.
Morocco and the UK signed the Association Agreement in 2019, which aims to preserve and strengthen the trade relations between the two countries after Brexit, especially in key areas like renewable energy and tourism.
In April, the former UK government received a similar question from British MP Llyod Russel Moyle, who asked the Minister of Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office if “he will make it his policy to support the establishment of a UN Council for Natural Resources in Western Sahara.”
In response, the former government stressed that it does not consider commercial activity to be illegal in Western Sahara.
The latest setback comes as the Polisario Front and its central supporter Algeria persist in lobbying efforts to challenge Morocco’s territorial integrity and sovereignty over its southern provinces in the Western Sahara.
In May of last year, a British court also rejected the appeal request of pro-Polisario NGO WSC against the Morocco-UK Association Agreement.
The lawsuit aimed to convince the British court to re-examine the trade agreement between the UK and Morocco to challenge Morocco’s territorial integrity.
The new remarks come as Morocco is gaining international momentum and support for its position on Western Sahara.
The latest show of support came last week when France joined the chorus of countries that have declared Morocco’s Autonomy Plan as the only approach able to end the dispute.
The French government also recognized Morocco’s full sovereignty over its southern provinces in Western Sahara.
