The Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Living Abroad, Nasser Bourita, indicated that South Africa's “gesticulations and agitations” around the Moroccan Sahara reflect its “inability to act on the case", in response to a question about the welcome by the South African President Cyril Ramaphosa of the leader of the polisario militia.
“Morocco is not surprised by what is happening. It is something that we have become accustomed to, and which has no effect”, indicated the minister, adding that “everything that South Africa has sown in the past, it will reap in the future, namely that there will be no impact on the file, its evolution and the direction it takes”.
“Whether a rag or a red carpet has been laid does not in any way alter this issue but rather expresses the inability to influence,” stated Minister Bourita. The Minister observed that with "all the developments in the case, South Africa finds itself on the wrong side of history", at a time when the tendency is to reach a solution in the framework of the United Nations.
The Minister recalled that, since South Africa recognised the fictive entity in 2005, thinking that the course of the case would change and that Africa and the world would follow suit », what really happened is that 20 countries have withdrawn their recognition, 10 in Africa, including 7 in the vicinity of Pretoria and that "nothing has changed" although South Africa has joined the Security Council three times since then.
“South Africa notes that half of the African continent, 23 countries, have opened consulates in the southern provinces, including several countries from its direct neighbourhood and region,” Bourita continued, noting that 90 countries, including Belgium and nearly 10 other European countries, today express a positive position with regard to the autonomy plan that Morocco presented in 2007.
“Of these 90 countries, 30 are African countries that adopt the same positive attitude,” added the minister, who welcomed the “constructive” approach adopted by the African Union regarding the Sahara.
“A solution based on international legitimacy, and which distinguishes a State from a militia, a flag from a rag, is what people expect from a credible country”, he underlined, making it known that “Morocco will continue to defend its interests, and to use all the means at its disposal.”
Bourita also pointed out that the behaviour of Pretoria with regard to the question of the Moroccan Sahara “harms bilateral relations and everything that has been built, especially in economic circles”.
“A South African company cannot make money in Morocco by standing idly by in the face of the actions of its government”, he said, recalling the clear speech of His Majesty King Mohammed VI of August 20 in which the Sovereign had affirmed that “the Sahara issue is the prism through which Morocco considers its international environment”.