The Makhzen’s Bewildering Silence on Ankara, Brussels Positions

The diplomatic strategy of the Moroccan Makhzen regime is based on investing in the unclear and ambiguous positions of countries and trying to get them out of context. Still, it resorts to the silence of the graves when the position of a country or group of countries such as the European Union or the African Union is straightforward and does not accept reversal.

Such practices that do not take into account diplomatic norms are well adopted by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Makhzen, Nasser Bourita, and this was evident in the recent developments of the Western Sahara issue, at the European level in particular, which were shocking to the Makhzen regime, because it thwarted all its manoeuvres and exposed its methods of exploiting some positions.

Moroccan diplomacy, as usual, and since the last statement of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, along with the Netherlands, and after the statement of the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, on Western Sahara, has kept a bewildering silence and did not comment on any of these statements and positions, although they were very harsh and scandalous to the allegations of the western neighbour, in dealing with Western Sahara issue, which Rabat places at the top of its problems.

In a written statement, the Turkish Foreign Ministry refuted Bourita’s statements, which spoke of Turkish recognition of the “Moroccan Sahara”, and Ankara confirmed that it respects the internationally recognized borders, directing a resounding slap to the Makhzen regime, which exploited hospitality considerations to confiscate the positions of its guests, in a scene that transcends morals and norms, which is a position that was also repeated with the Dutch Foreign Ministry.

The other blow that the Moroccan Makhzen regime received from the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Policy, is when he said: “The European Union considers that all issues relating to the question of Western Sahara must be addressed and placed, by international law, in the framework of the ongoing negotiations under the leadership of the UN Secretary-General Personal Envoy for Western Sahara, Staffan de Mistura”.

Borrell also asserted that “the position of the European Union on Western Sahara, which reflects the common view existing among the member states of the European Union, is to fully support the efforts led by the United Nations for a political process to reach a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution by the UN Security Council resolutions”.

Algeria, without waiting, was quick to comment on Borrell’s statement, describing it, through Ammar Belani, the special envoy in charge of the issue of Western Sahara and the Maghreb countries, as the usual position, but why did Rabat keep silence on this statement and before it clarifications of Ankara and Amsterdam?

The Makhzen regime realized that its silence regarding these statements would inevitably lead to many questions about the background of this reaction, especially since it used to engage in arguing statements without controls.

Morocco’s foreign minister desperately tried to justify this silence with what he said were “royal directives” calling for avoiding escalation, but this just did not convince everyone who knows the working methods of the Makhzen diplomacy.

if the denial of the Turkish Foreign Ministry and the clarification of the Dutch Foreign Ministry are considered a “strong slap”, according to diplomatic norms, and make officials in the western neighbour think a thousand times before they market a wrong position in the name of another country, why do these statements and those made by the European Union Foreign Policy High Representative constitute an unprecedented shock to the Makhzen diplomacy?

Since last March 18, which coincides with the date Spain changed its position on the Western Sahara issue, the arms of the Makhzen regime, at home and abroad, did everything to draw a scene showing the issue of Western Sahara as folded forever, and that the Sahrawi people suddenly became Moroccan and abandoned their fateful cause, and celebrated the event.

However, Borrell’s last statements came to awaken the Makhzen and its staff from daydreams to face a horrific nightmare, that the Western Sahara issue is still in its first square, and that its fate hangs on the 31-year-old UN resolution.

The European official silenced the noise raised by the Makhzen about obtaining the support of some European countries such as Spain, and to a lesser extent France and Germany when he confirmed that the position of the European Union has not changed and that it supports the efforts of the United Nations, which only recognizes one project, and it is the project from which the MINURSO mission derives, renamed the “United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara”, which is the self-determination of the Sahrawi people.