Ecuador withdraws SADR recognition

Ecuador has withdrawn recognition of the «Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR)». This decision was communicated by Foreign Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld on Tuesday, October 22, in a telephone call to her Moroccan counterpart, Nasser Bourita, according to MAP.

The suspension was anticipated, especially after the defeat of left-wing candidate Luisa Gonzalez in the October 15, 2023, elections. The victory of right-wing businessman Daniel Noboa, a 35-year-old from a banana-farming family, raised concerns for the Polisario Front.

Fearing a withdrawal of recognition of the «SADR», made public in 1983, the Front mobilized its lobbies in Ecuador and sent «Education Minister«Khatri Addouh, a close associate of Brahim Ghali, on a mission to Quito in November 2023 to commemorate the «40th anniversary of relations between the SADR and Ecuador».

For the record, Ecuador's Foreign Minister Sommerfeld expressed last July during a meeting with Morocco's Ambassador to Quito, Farida Loudaya, that her government values developing bilateral relations with Morocco in various areas.