The signing of a memorandum of understanding between the South African Development Group (SADC) and the fake entity in Tindouf early this month sparked strict reactions from both Malawi, Zambia and the Comoros, the members of this regional bloc, who expressed their categorical rejection of this step, in a shift that reflects a clear change in the African countries ’abuse with the file of the territorial integrity of Morocco and their commitment to enhance the sovereignty of states and maintain their interests, in exchange for the failure of supporting countries For separation, led by Pretoria, in achieving an African consensus on its approach, including within the spaces that were recently and in the past in its areas of influence on the continent.
The first country to protest the memorandum of understanding that was signed on the second of April is the Comoros Union, which directed a correspondence to the executive apparatus of the South African Development Group on the seventh of the same month, in which it was surprised by the signing of this memo with the Polisario Front.
The Comoros Reminded the General Secretariat of the group of its steadfast and supportive position of Morocco’s sovereignty over its southern regions, stressing that the issue of the conflict in the desert is an exclusive jurisdiction of the UN Security Council and the United Nations, and at the same time warning of the violation of the group’s founding charter and casting it into the Sahara issue in a way that harms the credibility of this regional organization.
Immediately after that, the Zambian Foreign Ministry sent an official diplomatic note to the Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco in Lusaka on the eighth of this month, during which it expressed its categorical and explicit rejection signing an agreement between the bloc to which it belongs and the Polisario Front, considering that it is not bound by this agreement.
Zambia, which opened a public consulate in the city of El -Ayoun in October 2020, reaffirmed its supportive position of Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara and the autonomy plan that she described as “the only reliable, serious, and realistic solution to settle this conflict.”
For its part, the state of Malawi directed an official diplomatic correspondence to the Rabat Embassy in Lilongwi on the 14th of the same month, through which it confirmed that it is not obligated to comply with the terms of the agreement signed by “SADC” with the Polisario, reducing its support for the autonomy plan that Rabat proposed to settle the conflict in the desert.
This coordinated opposition from several African countries refers to an important turning point in African diplomatic dynamics in relation to the Sahara issue, and it reveals that despite the initiatives undertaken by some regional organizations, an increasing number of African countries considers the Moroccan self -government plan the most realistic and subject to implementation of this long -term conflict.
With the expansion of the circle of African countries supporting the sovereignty of Rabat on its desert regions, the separatist voice led by Algeria and South Africa became a cacophony voice that reflects the prevailing trends within the brown continent that its countries began to move away from the complexities and fluctuations of regional policies, in exchange for supporting peaceful and practical solutions to settle conflicts that hinder the wheel of development in Africa and threaten its security and stability.
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