Moroccan diplomacy gets angry with the UN special envoy for Western Sahara

2024-02-15T17:00:42.425Z

Highlights: Moroccan diplomacy gets angry with the UN special envoy for Western Sahara. UN diplomat Staffan de Mistura visited South Africa at the end of January. Morocco considers Pretoria to be an active supporter of the Sahrawi separatists of the Polisario Front. Morocco believes that Pretoria has no place at the negotiating table in a conflict which has lasted almost 50 years. 'Whether he goes to the planet Mars, there will still be the same treatment, South Africa does not have the ability to influence the matter'

UN diplomat Staffan de Mistura visited South Africa at the end of January, a country which supports the right to self-determination of the Sahrawis, as does Algeria, the main supporter of the Front…

Moroccan diplomacy gets angry with the UN special envoy for Western Sahara

UN diplomat Staffan de Mistura visited South Africa at the end of January, a country which supports the right to self-determination of the Sahrawis, just like Algeria, the main supporter of the Polisario Front and Morocco's number 1 rival. In response to this visit, the kingdom changed its tone towards the UN envoy.

United Nations special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, January 15, 2015 in Geneva. REUTERS/Pierre Albouy

By: RFI Follow

With our correspondent in Rabat,

Victor Mauriat

“

Whether he goes to the planet Mars, there will still be the same treatment, South Africa does not have the ability or the capacity to influence the matter.

» After doing everything possible to cancel Staffan de Mistura's trip, the reaction from Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita was scathing.

Morocco considers Pretoria to be an active supporter of the Sahrawi separatists of the Polisario Front and believes that it has no place at the negotiating table in a conflict which has lasted almost 50 years.

If the United Nations did not heed Rabat's warnings about holding this visit, the spokesperson for the Secretary General, Stéphane Dujarric, justified this trip, explaining that Staffan de Mistura was free to speak to whomever he wished. seemed, regardless of the position of Morocco or the UN.

Not enough to convince Morocco which promises "

consequences

" through its ambassador to the UN, Omar Hilale, and according to the Moroccan media,

Le Desk

, Morocco would have broken off contacts with Staffan de Mistura, demanding prior to the resumption of the political process with Algeria while defining as the one and only solution to the conflict, the Moroccan proposal for autonomy.

Also read Western Sahara: fifty years later, what prospects for the Polisario Front?

Moroccan diplomacy gets angry with the UN special envoy for Western Sahara

Moroccan diplomacy gets angry with the UN special envoy for Western Sahara

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