Pretoria (South Africa) 14 December 2020 (SPS)- South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Dr. Naledi Pandor, considered Trump’s recognition of Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara as a violation of the international legality and African Union Constitutive Act, in a statement on international developments for the year 2020, in Pretoria Today.
“We are also concerned by the recent developments relating to the situation in Western Sahara, which US recognition of Morocco goes against international law and the African Union’s Constitutive Act,” she indicated.
She further estimated that “these developments may fuel hostilities between Morocco and the Sahrawi”, adding that “silencing the guns in these situations requires dealing with the root causes of conflicts which invariably includes governance deficits, human rights abuses and contestation over resources.”
In this regards, she recalled that “the recent AU Summit agreed that the role of foreign interests in the conflicts needs greater attention.”
She emphasised that “as is the case with the Western Sahara discussed earlier, there are recent developments that are undermining the internationally agreed parameters to end the occupation of Palestine based on two viable states.”
It should be recalled that South Africa is the current President of the UN Security Council and African Union, and has always advocated for the strict and principled respect of the norms of the international law and African Union’s Constitutive Act in resolving international and African conflicts.
On another hand, this South African reiterated position on Western Sahara comes in response to the US outgoing President, Mr. Donald Trump, who declared last Thursday 11 December that he traded Moroccan normalisation of relations with Israel for a unilateral proclamation of recognition of Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara.
This surprising move was largely criticised and rejected by international organisations, governments and US legislators, mainly the UN, AU, EU to name only these three main organisations. (SPS)
090/500/60 (SPS)