The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) foiled attempts by Morocco to access the office of the African Union (AU) Heads of State Summit in Addis Ababa on Saturday, as Morocco presented its candidacy to represent the North African region in an attempt to influence the Western Sahara issue by having a presence in the top continental body, according to diplomatic sources.
To counter Morocco’s plan, the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic nominated itself to represent the region in the AU Heads of State Summit. Its candidacy served as a strong obstacle against Morocco’s negative influence on the African stance supporting the Sahrawi people’s right to freedom and independence,” added the same diplomatic sources.
What is striking is that Morocco’s nomination to the AU Heads of State Summit was the latest attempt by the Moroccan regime, which failed miserably today thanks to the vigilance of Sahrawi diplomacy. The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic’s nomination for the same position dashed the hopes of Morocco’s Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita, who will return to Rabat trying to justify the failure of Morocco’s plan to obtain a seat in the office.
The Moroccan plan comes in the context of “desperate” attempts and “malicious” schemes that Morocco has been engaged in since its joining of the African Union in 2017 after an African isolation that lasted for 34 years, in order to expel the Sahrawi Republic from every African forum or organization. However, all of its attempts have been met with strong resistance from Sahrawi diplomacy.
Everyone remembers the seating of the Moroccan King Mohammed VI and his delegation in 2017, forced to sit with the Sahrawi president Ibrahim Ghali in the same hall that hosted the African Union summit at the time. Since then, Moroccan attempts that violate the organization’s founding law and aim to expel the Sahrawi Republic and undermine African unity on the issue have persisted, but all have ended in abject failure.
In this context, Morocco failed to prevent the attendance of the Sahrawi Republic at the Arab-African summit in Malabo, as well as preventing its attendance at the African Union-European Union summit held in Côte d’Ivoire, where the King of Morocco found himself sitting for the second time with the President of the Sahrawi Republic.
The utter failure of all Morocco’s attempts to undermine the unity and stability of the African continent.
Despite all these failures, Morocco tried again in March 2022 to pressure the European Union to prevent the participation of the Sahrawi Republic in the EU-African Union summit, which was held in Brussels. However, Sahrawi President Brahim Ghali was received like all other African leaders at the European Union headquarters.
In August 2022, Morocco renewed its attempts to prevent the participation of the Sahrawi Republic in the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) in Tunisia. Then, Morocco withdrew its ambassador and issued strong statements against Tunisia. In the end, Morocco boycotted the summit after its dismal failure to hinder the participation of the Sahrawi Republic.
The repeated and multiple failures of Morocco in its attempts to achieve a fictitious “Don Quixote” victory over the Sahrawi Republic remain a few examples of the persistent failures of its efforts to destabilize the African continent and undermine its unity and stability.
Despite Morocco’s failure today in Addis Ababa to secure a seat in the highest continental body, it is certain that its attempts will not cease. However, it is inevitable that the repeated and multiple failures of these attempts will be their ultimate fate, as has happened in the past, thanks to the strength of African unity and the vigilance and diplomatic activity of the Sahrawi people in thwarting the Moroccan occupation’s attempts.
The repeated failures of the Moroccan occupation regime prove a single truth that was once stated by Vietnamese General Giap: “Colonialism is a stupid pupil.” The Sahrawi Republic has formed a strong barrier against the pathetic attempts of Morocco to divide and weaken the continent and undermine the African edifice.
The constant presence of the Sahrawi Republic as a founding member of the African Union, and the firm stance of the African continent in upholding the organization’s founding principles, will collectively form the rock upon which Morocco’s “childish” attempts will shatter. The world will come to realize that the only way forward for the two member states of the African Union, the Sahrawi Republic and the Kingdom of Morocco, is to sit down together and negotiate mechanisms for a self-determination referendum for the Sahrawi people.
Until then, the Moroccan occupation will continue to suffer from more failures. Those who are accustomed to failure will become addicted to it, forever, as the shining truth will be the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, a factor of stability and balance in the region.
