Polisario Confidential
by Khalid Ibrahim Khaled
Polisario leaders no longer know where to turn in the diplomatic battle with Morocco about the Western Sahara issue. During the current year, they have suffered a series of setbacks, the latest having been inflicted by Jamaica.
After the Republic of Suriname and Zambia, which have recently withdrawn their recognition of the pseudo-Sahrawi Republic “SADR,” Jamaica has followed suit.
“In an official document of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, dated September 14, 2016, Jamaica declares that it has decided to withdraw its recognition of the self-proclaimed SADR”, announced Thursday, the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The official document was given to Nasser Bourita, Delegate Minister to the Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, who was visiting the Caribbean country.
The document states that “Jamaica expresses its sincere hope that its position of neutrality and its continued support for the ongoing UN process will send the strong message that it stands with the international community in its effort to achieve a fair and peaceful solution to this protracted regional dispute.”
The authorities of Jamaica specify in their document that they will notify their decision to the United Nations shortly.
Jamaica is the 9th state of the Caribbean region and the 34th worldwide to withdraw its recognition of the ghostly “SADR” since the early 2000s.
At present, only some 30 countries, mainly in Anglophone Africa and in Latin America, continue to recognize the so-called “SADR”. And the number is expected to shrink, for Morocco’s return to the African Union (AU) will have many unpleasant surprises for the Polisario separatists and their Algerian mentors. Pending this return, Moroccan diplomacy continues to deal them successive blows.
