Colombian Senate’s Foreign Affairs Committee Slams Polisario Representative’s Participation in Seminar, Reiterates Respect for Morocco’s Territorial Integrity

The majority of the members of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Colombian Senate castigated, on Wednesday, the participation of a representative of the separatist polisario front in a seminar in the Senate on relations between Africa and Colombia, and rejected “categorically” any type of relationship with the separatists. Eight senators out of the twelve members of the Foreign Affairs Committee signed a motion in which they recalled that this separatist movement “is not recognized as a country by the United Nations and does not represent, in any case, a partner for Colombia,” reaffirming “the fundamental principles of our diplomacy, which is the respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of States.” The signatories point out that “at the initiative of the President of the Second Committee of the Senate of the Republic (Foreign Affairs), a meeting is being held this April 26, 2023 to review the need to strengthen relations between Africa and Colombia, with a view to boosting diplomatic, economic, trade and cultural relations between Africa and Colombia and to review the history and situation of the continent in order to open a space for dialogue to strengthen a common agenda. “In the spirit of expanding and diversifying our relations with this important continent, the members of the Second Committee of the Senate, welcome the initiative to strengthen ties between Colombia and African countries and open spaces for dialogue to strengthen cooperation in all areas,” continues the motion, which was endorsed by the most representative parties in the Senate, both the majority and opposition. “However, and taking into account one of the fundamental principles of our diplomacy, which is respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of States, we deeply and categorically reject any type of relationship [with the polisario] and even more the participation [by videoconference in this meeting held] in the Senate of the Republic of representatives of the separatist movement of the polisario front, which is not recognized as a country by the United Nations and does not represent in any case a partner for Colombia,” reads the text of the motion. The signatories recall, in this context, that “the motion issued by the Senate of the Republic of Colombia, October 19, 2022, signed by 63 senators (out of 108) from various political tendencies, in which we had expressed our firm position of support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Morocco,” describing the Kingdom as “an ally with which we have excellent ties of friendship, which has historically bound us for nearly half a century, and which represents for Colombia a strategic and privileged partner in Africa and the Arab world, given its leadership and recognition at regional, continental and global level. Affirming their “adherence to the principle of one Morocco”, the signatories reiterate their “support for the Moroccan initiative for the negotiation of an autonomy status for the Sahara region, whose pre-eminence is enshrined in the 18 resolutions of the UN Security Council since 2007 and which preserves the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Morocco,” concludes the text of the motion. The motion was signed by Antonio José CORREA JIMENEZ of the Party of the U (opposition) vice-president of the Commission, Oscar Mauricio GIRALDO HERNANDEZ of the Conservative Party (majority), Lidio Arturo GARCIA TURBAY of the Liberal Party (majority), Iván Leonidas NAME VASQUEZ of Green Alliance (majority), Nicolás Albeiro ECHEVERRY ALVARAN of the Conservative Party (majority), Paola Andrea HOLGUIN MORENO of the Democratic Center (Opposition), José Luis PEREZ OYUELA of Cambio Radical (Opposition), José Vicente CARREÑO CASTRO of the Democratic Center (Opposition) This motion of the Commission will be notified to the Minister of Foreign Affairs.