Moroccan Sahara – GCC countries reiterate their constant positions

The Supreme Council of the Gulf Cooperation Council reiterated its position in support of the Moroccan identity of the Sahara. The final statement of the GCC Summit praised UN Security Council Resolution 2602 of October 29, 2021 on the issue of the Moroccan Sahara.

The GCC’s successive positions on the Moroccan identity of the Sahara confirm the strong ties between the Kingdom and the GCC countries, as it has always expressed its involvement in supporting Rabat in the UN-sponsored political process.

In this regard, the security expert, Mohammed al-Tayyar, stresses that the GCC position “comes at a time when the rising hostility of the Algerian military regime, which has taken a series of hostile decisions in its relations with Morocco, makes questions arise on the occasion of the GCC position”.

Al-Tayyar takes a stand on the Arab League’s position on the issue of the territorial integrity of Morocco, which is publicly targeted at the insistence of one of its members, saying that “the issue of the Sahara over the past decades was one of the manifestations of the weakness of the Arab League”.

Perhaps the most recent manifestation of this weakness is the determination of the Algerian military regime to use the Arab League summit to be held in Algeria to pass on its position against Moroccan territorial integrity.

Ramtane Lamamra, Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Algerian National Community Abroad, said in a statement through the French-language newspaper L’Expression that “the next Arab summit to be held in Algeria will be an occasion to announce support for the Polisario”.

This position would “bring the Arab League closer to the stage of disintegration and disappearance, like the many organizations that were unable to carry out the tasks they committed to when they were established”, he said.

The same analyst goes on to say: “Therefore, at a time when the position of the GCC countries on the first issue of the Moroccan people is emerging, the hesitant and divided positions of the Arab League on this issue are coming to the surface, and questions about its usefulness, effectiveness, and presence are strongly emerging”.