After snubbing Pretoria’s solidarity conference, SADC member states that attended Morocco’s parallel meeting on Western Sahara defended their choice. The two meetings made some of the organization’s leaders question SADC’s unity.
The chairperson of the African National Congress, a ruling party in South Africa, criticized Morocco for hosting a parallel conference on the same day SADC was organizing a meeting to support the Polisario Front.
As Marrakech is hosting an African meeting on the Western Sahara conflict, Pretoria chairs a SADC conference to support the Polisario. Some African countries have decided to send delegations to both Morocco and South Africa, trying to please both parties.
South Africa has, finally, accepted the appointment of a full ambassador from Morocco. The information was confirmed by a Moroccan diplomatic source, announcing the end of a 15-year-old diplomatic rupture.
South Africa has joined the African Union presidential troika on the Sahara. Rabat will have to pay close attention to the presidential election in South Africa, which will shape the country’s position on the regional conflict.
One year after King Mohammed VI and the former South African President Jacob Zuma met, relations between the two countries remained stuck in a dichotomy between politics and economy.
The South African government said earlier this week that Morocco is yet to answer a request of agreement submitted by Pretoria in 2004.