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President Cyril Ramaphosa has placed the Western Sahara issue on the agenda for the South Africa-Ghana summit in Pretoria on Tuesday, March 12. «On our own continent, the matter of Western Sahara remains unresolved. As we pursue our own developmental goals, we stand in solidarity with all who continue to suffer the effects of occupation and dispossession», he stressed in an address at the opening ceremony.
«The Heads of State agreed to intensify support for the cause of Western Sahara for self-determination, freedom, and justice» reads point 10 of the joint declaration.
Since assuming office in January 2017, Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo has adopted a position of positive neutrality on the Western Sahara issue, while maintaining recognition of the so-called «SADR», enacted by his predecessors. Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Nigeria are also following suit.
Indeed, the royal visit to Accra on February 17, 2017, paved the way for closer relations between the two countries. As a non-permanent member of the Security Council between 2022 and 2023, Ghana has consistently voted in favor of resolutions extending the MINURSO mission. In May 2021, Ghanaian Foreign Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey praised the kingdom's efforts to achieve a negotiated political solution to the regional dispute.
This South African initiative regarding Ghana comes at a time when Algeria is increasing pressure on Sierra Leone, a state that recognizes Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara and even opened a consulate general in Dakhla in August 2021.
Following President Julius Maada Bio's visit to Algiers in January, and talks between Ahmed Attaf and Sierra Leone's Vice-President Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh on the sidelines of the last African Union summit in Addis Ababa in February, it was the turn of Sierra Leone's Foreign Minister, Musa Timothy Kabba, to travel to Algiers on March 10. Officially, the visit falls within the framework of coordinating the two countries' actions at the Security Council.
Shortly after Staffan de Mistura's visit to Pretoria, Ambassador Omar Hilale declared that «Morocco will never allow South Africa to have any role in the Moroccan Sahara issue. Pretoria has been and remains toxic for the Moroccan Sahara issue».
