Once again, the Zambian Foreign Ministry withdraws its recognition of SADR 

The new Zambian Foreign Minister, Joseph Malanji visited Rabat on Thursday heading a delegation. On the same day, he met his Moroccan counterpart, Nasser Bourita.

«Zambia confirms its withdrawal of SADR recognition and will notify this decision to the UN, the AU and all its embassies around the world,» said Malanji at a joint press briefing with Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Nasser Bourita.

Zambia supports the UN-led political process to reach a settlement for this regional dispute, he said, noting that, while awaiting a political solution, Zambia will not interfere and will maintain a position of neutrality, reports MAP news agency.

Bourita, for his part, said that relations between Morocco and Zambia have witnessed a strong evolution during the last two years, adding that they were marked by the visit, last year, of King Mohammed VI in Lusaka, which enabled the signing of several agreements and the launch of a solid cooperation between the two countries.

The second announcement of its kind

As strange as it might sound, this is not the first time that a Zambian Foreign minister claims that the country is cutting ties with the «Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic». On the 9th of July 2016, Harry Kalaba had declared the same thing but without honoring his promises. Moreover, on the 10th of January of the same year, Lusaka received the Polisario leader, Brahim Ghali, who was on an official visit to the country where he met President Edgar Lungu. After a three-day visit, the latter stressed that the Zambian government would support the separatist movement.

In February 2017, Kalaba and after King Mohammed VI was in Zambia announced :  «I reiterate the statement I made in Rabat  on July the 9th 2016», reports MAP news agency.

The decision made by Zambia yesterday was officially confirmed by a communiqué issued by the presidency. A step that would weaken the Polisario’s allies in the southern Africa.

Indeed, the Moroccan foreign minister announced in an interview with EFE during the AU-EU summit in Abidjan last November that some countries will cut diplomatic ties with the «SADR».