In the last five years, Moroccan diplomacy, under the leadership of King Mohammed VI, won increasing support from global powers for its territorial integrity and sovereignty over the Sahra territory.
The US recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara territory in 2020- as part of a trilateral deal involving the resumption of ties with Israel- was a watershed moment cementing centuries old ties between Washington and Rabat.
The US stand was followed with Spanish support for Morocco’s autonomy plan for the Sahara under the Kingdom’s sovereignty.
Within the past five years, 28 countries opened consulates in the Saharan cities of Dakhla and Laayoune, bringing tangible support for Morocco’s sovereignty over the territory.
These include 22 African states, or 40% of the African Union member states.
The King made it clear that the Kingdom would never compromise on its sovereignty.
“The Sahara issue is the lens through which Morocco looks at the world,” the King said.
An upcoming full recognition from Paris, a former power bearing responsibility in Morocco’s colonial partition, would send shockwaves across the globe and put another painful nail in the Algeria-nurtured separatist plot in southern Morocco.
Morocco’s King has also led efforts to ensure Morocco’s return to the African Union in 2017.
The triumphal return to the pan-African organization was followed by active participation of Morocco, which won a seat in the top-decision making body, the Peace and Security Council.
History shall remember how opponents of Morocco’s territorial integrity, usually failed dictatorships turning in Algeria’s orbit, have used the same council to defend separatism.
The African Union, as part of mending its past bias, adopted a resolution in its 31st summit in Mauritania in 2018, recognizing the UN process as the sole process to settle the Sahara issue. The decision was a victory for Morocco which always decried the aberration of having a separatist entity lacking all state attributes as a member state within the AU.
Development
Recognitions abroad came in tandem with a speed up of the development process at home.
The King gave instructions to make the Sahara a champion of economic and human development domestically.
After a development program worth 7 billion dollars, Morocco is launching major infrastructure projects in the Sahara, including a world-class container port in Dakhla to make the region a hub for trade and foster its standing as a gateway to the African market.
Morocco is also close to opening a highway linking Dakhla to Tiznit, as well as desalination and renewable energy projects that would meet the needs of the region and beyond while creating a propitious investment climate.
As Morocco continues to win support for its territorial integrity from global powers, it has achieved a human development index in the Sahara that is higher than the national average, making the territory a model in the African continent for peace, stability and doing business.