The United States opens Sunday a representation in Western Sahara, the last of the former African colonies with unresolved status, disputed between Morocco and the separatists of the Polisario Front, we learned from diplomatic sources.
The role and exact status of this office will be clarified on Sunday, according to the US Embassy.
The representation will be installed in Dakhla, a fishing port located in the south of Western Sahara, intended to become a “regional maritime hub” serving Africa and the Canaries thanks to a colossal development project launched by Rabat.
The event, organized in the last days of President Donald Trump’s mandate, goes against the position of the United Nations, which considers Western Sahara as an autonomous territory pending final status.
Deputy Secretary of State for the Near East and North Africa David Schenker – who on Saturday began a “historic visit” to Western Sahara by landing in Laayoune, the regional capital – will chair the event, according to the account. Twitter of the American Embassy in Morocco.
This strong diplomatic gesture is part of the tripartite agreement signed on December 22 by the Americans, Israelis and Moroccans, confirming diplomatic normalization between Morocco and the Hebrew state, with American recognition of the sovereignty of Rabat on Western Sahara.
It comes as the political negotiations led by the UN on the status of this desert territory, located in the north of Mauritania, have stalled for decades.
Morocco, which controls about two-thirds of this territory, wants “autonomy under control”. The Polisario, supported by neighboring Algeria, militates for independence and calls for a self-determination referendum, planned by the UN.
As Donald Trump prepares to leave the White House, his teams have rolled out the terms of the agreement that made Morocco the fourth country to normalize its relations with Israel – after the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan – while legitimizing its presence in Western Sahara.
The new map of Morocco including Western Sahara was adopted by Washington three days after the announcement of the agreement. The first commercial flight between Tel Aviv and Rabat was chartered ten days later, in the presence of Mr. Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner.
“Failed status quo”
“By recognizing Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, President Trump rejected the failed status quo that benefited no one, and instead, he set in motion a lasting and mutually acceptable solution,” Kushner stressed to the time.
The agreement provides for the opening of an American “consulate” in Dakhla and includes an envelope of three billion dollars (2.4 billion euros), released by the American Development Bank (DFC) for “financial support. and technique of private investment projects ”in Morocco and sub-Saharan Africa.
To this is added a billion dollars (818 million euros) for female entrepreneurship in the region through the “2X Women Africa” initiative, funded by the DFC.
Beyond the financial aspect, the Moroccan authorities consider the American validation of “its Sahara” as “a historic diplomatic breakthrough”.
In recent months, around twenty countries – including the Comoros, Liberia, Burkina Faso, Bahrain and the Emirates – have opened diplomatic representations in Dakhla or Laâyoune (north), which the Polisario considers to be contrary to international law.
The Polisario broke the ceasefire signed in 1991 under the auspices of the UN in mid-November after Morocco deployed its troops in a demilitarized zone on the border with Mauritania to “secure” the only route to West Africa, regularly cut off by separatists.
US President-elect Joe Biden has yet to comment on the Western Sahara issue.
“Each administration has the prerogative to decide its foreign policy”, recalled Mr. Schenker this week in Algiers, where he stopped over as part of a regional tour.
“On the question of whether the US will be present on the ground in Western Sahara, I want to be clear: the United States is not establishing a military base in Western Sahara” and the US military command staff for it. Africa (Africom) “will not be relocated there,” he said.
