Morocco seeks Chile support on Sahara

Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita on Tuesday received in Rabat a Chilean parliamentary delegation from the Morocco-Chile Friendship Group, led by its chair, Catalina Del Real, a lawmaker from the Republican Party.

Speaking to the press after the meeting, Del Real said UN Security Council Resolution 2797, adopted on October 31, represents a lever for «strengthening stability and progress in the Moroccan Sahara».

Del Real has repeatedly voiced support for Morocco's position on the Sahara issue during previous visits to the kingdom. Her meeting with Bourita is particularly significant given her current political affiliation.

In 2024, she left the National Renewal party to join the Republican Party, the right-wing movement founded in 2019 by José Antonio Kast, who won Chile's presidential election last December and took office on March 11.

Morocco is seeking to capitalize on this new political landscape to persuade the Chilean government to endorse its sovereignty over the Sahara. Chile has never recognized the self-proclaimed «Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR)», despite repeated initiatives by Polisario supporters in both chambers of the Chilean Congress.