Sahara: United Arab Emirates Reaffirms “Full Support” for Morocco’s Sovereignty

The United Arab Emirates reiterated, before the United Nations Committee of 24 (C-24), its “full support” for Morocco’s sovereignty and legitimate rights over all of its Sahara. “The State of the United Arab Emirates renews its full support for the brotherly Kingdom of Morocco in the actions it undertakes to defend its legitimate rights and its just causes, including its sovereignty over the entire region of the Moroccan Sahara”, the Emirati representative, Majid Khamis Al Ali, said during the annual C-24 meeting in New York. The diplomat also expressed his country’s support for the Autonomy initiative presented by Morocco in 2007 and deemed “serious and credible” by the Security Council in its resolutions, stressing that this plan is an “important solution” in line with the UN Charter and UN resolutions and which respects Morocco’s territorial integrity. He further stressed the importance of resuming the roundtable process between the parties, while welcoming the holding of the two round table sessions in 2018 and 2019 in Geneva. The diplomat also hailed the efforts made by the UN Secretary General Personal Envoy to the Sahara, Staffan de Mistura and the tours he undertook in the region in January, July and September. He also noted that the opening by his country of a Consulate General in the Moroccan Sahara, like other countries, reflects the unshakable conviction of the United Arab Emirates in Morocco’s sovereignty over its Sahara, insisting that the territorial integrity of the Kingdom must not be subject to any attack. In this vein, the diplomat welcomed the opening by 28 countries of their General Consulates in the cities of Laâyoune and Dakhla. The Emirati diplomat welcomed the sustained efforts made by Morocco to improve the living conditions of the populations in the Sahara and to raise the human development indicators in this region within the framework of the development model launched by HM King Mohammed VI in 2015.