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Morocco is determined to revive diplomatic ties with African nations that have been close to the Polisario Front for years. Uganda, a member of intergovernmental organization East African Community, is one of the countries that Morocco is approaching.
Ugandan lawyer and politician Rebecca Kadaga Alitwala, who is also the Speaker of Uganda’s parliament, is an influential figure in the East African country that accepted to listen to and understand the position of Morocco on the Western Sahara issue.
During the last four months, she visited Morocco twice in March and in July. During her second trip to the Kingdom, Alitwala held talks with the Moroccan head of government Saadeddine El Othmani and the country's Foreign Affairs Minister Nasser Bourita.
The Ugandan politician also held a meeting in Rabat with the chairman of the Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS) Khalihenna Ould Errachid, during which they discussed the latest developments of the Western Sahara question.
President Yoweri Museveni and the Polisario Front
However, meeting members of CORCAS, an advisory committee to the Moroccan government on the Western Sahara issue, contradicts the foreign policy implemented by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who has been supporting the Polisario Front for 33 years.
During the Southern African Development Community (SADC) conference held in March in South Africa to support the Polisario, the President backed the position of the separatist movement all while criticizing the Kingdom.
In May, Museveni received in Kampala the Front's newly appointed «ambassador to Uganda» Hammadi Bashir and reiterated his government’s support to Brahim Ghali’s movement.
The 75-year-old President is planning to bid for a sixth presidential term in 2021. In December 2017 he signed the «Age Limit» Bill, which effectively amended the Constitution to remove the presidential age limit caps. The Bill amended article 102 (b), which barred people above 75 and those below 35 years from running for the highest office.
In November 2018, Ugandan media reported that former ministers and MPs and Uganda encouraged Rebecca Kadaga Alitwala to run for the 2021 presidential election.
The Speaker of the Ugandan Parliament is determined to strengthen relations with the Kingdom. She invited her Moroccan counterpart to take part, as an observer member, in the 64th session of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Assembly scheduled for 22-29 September in Kampala. She also promised to work on launching a direct airline route to link Morocco to Uganda.
