“Diplomatic battle” between Algeria and Morocco at India–Africa Summit

Algeria and a number of African countries such as South Africa and Zimbabwe, came to the defense of the eligibility of Sahrawis to self-determination, and called for an end to the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara, through the inclusion of the right to fight against colonialism, in the final declaration of the India-Africa summit held in New Delhi.

The objective of Algeria and the majority of African countries participating in the summit, was to showcase the legality of the Western Sahara issue during this major conference by laying emphasis on the clear principle adopted by the United Nations aimed at enshrining “the eligibility of self-determination of peoples”, which Morocco has been seeking to obliterate to this day since its forces’ occupation in 1975 of Sahrawi territories.

As a result of the manifold reversals sustained by Moroccan diplomacy in the promotion of expansionist and colonialist theses regarding the Western Sahara issue, Morocco’s King  Mohammed VI presided over his country’s delegation at the New Delhi summit, in a bid to influence the decisions of the states’ representatives in attendance.

The Moroccan Monarch is used to commission his brother Rachid or the prime minister or foreign minister to represent him in a myriad of regional and world conferences but this time he chose to be present himself at the Africa-India summit because much was at stake.

This was viewed by political analysts as an attempt to ward off a consensual stance by the participants in this salient summit in urging for the decolonization of Western Sahara and a solemn call for the staging of a self-determination referendum to test the will of the Sahrawi people in line with relevant UN resolutions and international legality.

It is known that more than 90 percent of the African continent, firmly support the right of Sahrawis to self-determination, and the same thing for Latin America, which is reflected in the Brazilian foreign minister’s statement to this effect made during an official visit paid earlier this week to Algeria.

This massive backing for the legitimate Sahrawi cause should be added to the clear-cut stand adopted on this pure decolonization issue by the Scandinavian countries, led by Sweden to the dismay of the isolated Moroccan regime which is seeing to maneuver and play for time.