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Rabat – Several foreign ministers have stressed their countries’ support for Morocco’s Autonomy Plan for Western Sahara, underlining its credibility and potential to resolve the lingering territorial dispute in line with the UN resolutions on the matter.
On Wednesday, Morocco’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita held numerous bilateral meetings with his Romanian, Serbian, Cypriot, and Nigerien counterparts. The meetings were held on the sidelines of the ministerial meeting of the Global Coalition against Daesh.
Bogdan Aurescu, Romania’s foreign minister, commended Morocco’s serious efforts to establish “a just, lasting and mutually acceptable” solution to the Western Sahara dispute, recalling the North African kingdom’s submission of the Autonomy Plan proposal to the UN Security Council in 2007.
Bourita and Aurescu stressed their countries’ role in promoting and preserving peace and stability in Africa, the Mediterranean, as well as Central Europe and the Balkans.
They further called for the consolidation of political dialogue and cooperation between the two countries in education, vocational training, scientific research, and digitization to advance the 60-year-old diplomatic relations between Bucharest and Rabat.
Nikola Selakovic, Serbia’s Foreign Minister, echoed Aurescu’s statements, adding that his country supports the “serious and credible” Moroccan autonomy plan for Western Sahara which underpins the Kingdom’s sovereignty over the disputed territory.
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Discussion over territorial integrity between Bourita and Selakovic also extended to the dispute between Serbia on one side and Kosovo and Metohija on another.
Selakovic additionally praised Morocco’s commitment to sustainable socio-economic growth as well as African stability and development.
Territorial integrity was also at the center of the bilateral meeting between Bourita and his Cypriot counterpart Ioannis Kasoulides who reaffirmed his country’s support of Morocco’s autonomy proposal.
“We will work together today to establish a roadmap for bilateral cooperation in all areas,” Kasoulides said. The roadmap would provide a basis for the deepening of political, economic, and cultural ties between Nicosia and Rabat at the bilateral, regional, and international levels.
For his part, Hassoumi Massaoudou, Niger’s Foreign Minister, said that “Niger supports the position of the African Union, which consecrates the exclusivity of the United Nations as a framework for the search for a solution to the regional conflict created around the question of the Sahara.”
Massaoudou further welcomed Morocco’s efforts to resolve the long-standing dispute around the status of Western Sahara.
Romania, Serbia, Cyprus, and Niger’s stances on Western Sahara demonstrate an international tendency to commend Morocco’s “credible and serious” autonomy proposal, particularly after the official endorsements of the United States and Spain.
Earlier this week, Bahrain, Egypt, Turkey, Guinea, and Central Africa all stated their pro-Morocco stances on the dispute.
Currently, more than 20 countries have diplomatic representations in the cities of Dakhla and Laayoune, cementing their support of the Moroccanness of Western Sahara.
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