Peru’s Congress Forms ‘Support Group for Moroccan Autonomy Plan in Sahara’

The Peruvian Congress has decided to create a support group for the Moroccan autonomy plan, with the objective of endorsing autonomy in the Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty. This support group considers the autonomy plan as the “one and only” solution to the regional dispute around this territory and to raise awareness of the executive power in Peru on the relevance of this proposal. The creation of this group was announced at the second institutional meeting of the Parliamentary Friendship Group Peru-Morocco, held Tuesday at the headquarters of the Peruvian legislative institution. It is integrated by the president of the Parliamentary Friendship Group Peru-Morocco and member of the Foreign Affairs Commission, Ernesto Bustamante Donayre, the president of the Foreign Affairs Commission, Maricarmen Alva Prieto, the president of the Intelligence Commission, Jose Cueto Aservi, as well as other presidents of Commissions and Peruvian parliamentarians. On this occasion, Bustamante welcomed the excellent legislative relations between the two countries, highlighting the position of the Peruvian Congress in favor of the autonomy plan and the sovereignty of the Kingdom over the whole of the Moroccan Sahara, while calling on the Peruvian government to reconsider the “erroneous position, relating to the restoration of relations with separatists” of the Polisario. For her part, Alva Prieto highlighted “the imperative of a reversal of the confused position of the Peruvian government with regard to the territorial integrity of a friendly country, with a remarkable geopolitical and strategic importance, and constituting a gateway to the Middle East and the African continent. For his part, Cueto pinned in his speech the equivocal position adopted by the Peruvian government towards the territorial integrity of Morocco, stressing the need to consolidate good bilateral relations with a key country in the African scene, the Arab world and the Mediterranean region, in order to benefit from its experience in several areas, including security governance, renewable energy, energy efficiency, water resources management, logistics performance, as well as in the agricultural, industrial and aerospace sectors. The other parliamentarians present highlighted the need to consolidate good bilateral relations, based on common interests with the Kingdom of Morocco, while calling on the Peruvian government to formally recognize the Moroccan proposal, the only solution to the regional dispute over the Moroccan Sahara. During this meeting, dedicated to the creation of the Support Group to the Moroccan Autonomy Initiative, HM the King’s Ambassador in Lima, Amin Chaoudri, highlighted the initiative submitted by the Kingdom of Morocco in 2007 to end the political stalemate of several decades around the Moroccan Sahara, stressing that it represents the only political, realistic, pragmatic, and sustainable solution to this regional dispute. Recalling that this proposal is described by the United Nations as “serious and credible”, the Moroccan ambassador said that the Moroccan initiative has the full support of the population of the Moroccan Sahara and the international community. He said in this context that since 2007, all reports and resolutions of the UN Security Council, including the latest resolution 2654 adopted on October 27, 2022, illustrate both the commitment of the Kingdom in the political process led by the UN and the support of the UN body to the Moroccan initiative of autonomy for the Moroccan Sahara. The creation of this “Group of support and support for the Moroccan autonomy initiative” in the Peruvian Congress reflects the firm commitment of the legislative institution of Peru to work for a strengthening of bilateral cooperation and consolidation of relations between the two countries, especially since a significant number of Peruvian parliamentarians have expressed their keen interest in joining the Group.