Hilale criticises UN Western Sahara envoy’s visit to South Africa

NEW YORK – Morocco will never allow its Sahara to become a diplomatic manoeuvring ground for South Africa, warned Morocco’s permanent representative to the United Nations Omar Hilal in an interview with the country’s state news agency MAP.

Following the recent visit of UN envoy to Western Sahara Staffan de Mistura to South Africa, the Ambassador Hilale said that at no time was Morocco consulted, or even informed.

“On the contrary, as soon as we became aware of this planned visit, several weeks ago, we directly expressed to Mr. de Mistura, as well as to the UN secretariat Morocco's categorical opposition to a such travel, as well as our rejection of any interaction with Pretoria on the issue of the Moroccan Sahara, citing legitimate and objective reasons,” said Hilale.

“I dare to hope that this is not a question of distrust in Morocco on the part of Mr. de Mistura, but of a simple error of assessment of the true posture of South Africa. Regardless, Morocco clearly warned him about the consequences of his trip on the political process,” he said.

Morocco’s permanent representative to the UN pointed out that Rabat reminded de Mistura of the fundamentals of his mandate, which are his letter of appointment by the UN Secretary-General, which specifies that he will have to work exclusively with the four stakeholders in the political process, as well as Security Council resolutions since 2007, including 2703 of October 30.

“These resolutions make no reference to South Africa, and even less to any alleged role or contribution of this country to the political process. Listing to the Personal Envoy the multiple elements disqualifying South Africa from any interference in the Moroccan Sahara issue, I would limit myself to recalling that this country recognizes the chimerical entity and supports the "polisario" politically, diplomatically, mediatically and militarily,” said Hilale.

“For all these reasons, Morocco will never allow South Africa to have any role in the Moroccan Sahara issue. Pretoria has been and remains toxic for the question of the Moroccan Sahara,” he added.

Hilale reiterated the North African kingdom’s only approach of round tables, with the exclusive participation of Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania and the "polisario", as recommended by successive resolutions of the Security Council.

“This is why Morocco expresses the hope that Mr. de Mistura devotes his efforts more to convincing Algeria to resume its place at the Round Table, as in 2018 and 2019. He has a clear and strong mandate from the Security Council in with a view to facilitating a political, realistic, pragmatic, lasting and compromise solution to this regional dispute,” he said.

Hilale concluded that King Mohammed VI has charted the path for the definitive settlement of this regional dispute through the Moroccan Autonomy Initiative, within the framework of Morocco’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.