With the opening of their consulates in Laayoune…The United Arab Emirates and Jordan affirm their constant positions in supporting the territorial integrity of Morocco

20th November 2020

2 minutes read

In the same way of his brother, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed ben Zayed Al Nahyane, the King of Jordan Abdullah II announced, yesterday, the intention of his country to open a consulate in the city of Laayoune in Moroccan Sahara, during a phone call with his brother, King Mohammed VI, King of Morocco Kingdom.

King Abdullah II affirmed Jordan’s full support of Morocco’s brother Kingdom in the measures ordered by King Mohammed VI to guarantee the security of the circulation of civil and commercial movements in the region of Guerguerat in the Moroccan Sahara again, and declaring the consistent position of his country to support the territorial integrity of Morocco, and also the efforts to reach a political solution of the Moroccan Sahara issue following the decisions of adequate international legitimacy.

Jordan’s decision comes after a day of holding the tripartite summit in Abu Dhabi that gathered Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, King Abdullah II, King of Jordan, and King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, King of Kingdom of Bahrain. In fact, this move is similar to that of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which was announced last month, when the UAE decided to open a consulate general in the city of Laayoune, the largest city of the Sahara in southern Morocco, to be the first Arab consulate in Laayoune city.

This actually affirms the UAE’s constant support of the Morocco Kingdom and proves sincere and reciprocal affection between the two brotherly countries. This approach is also part of the fruitful ties of cooperation and effective solidarity between the Kingdom of Morocco and the United Arab Emirates, and strong support for the territorial integrity of Morocco on this part in its territory, in particular, that the UAE participated in the “Green March“, when Morocco recuperated the Sahara from Spanish occupation, in November 1975.

In the same context, the professor and the political analyst, Karim Ayesh, related that this move intensifies the power and the credibility of the Moroccan position at the international level on the conflict over the Moroccan Sahara and weakens the separatist hypothesis adopted by armed militias and those who support them, according to Al-Ain Al-Ekhbariya.

The number of diplomatic consulates opened until now in the cities of Laayoune and Dakhla (the second-largest city in the Sahara) has reached 15. It should be noted that the countries which have opened their consulates in Laayoune (8 countries) are: The United Republic of Comoros (December 18, 2019), Gabon (January 17, 2020), Sao Tomé and Principe (January 23, 2020), Central Africa (January 23, 2020), the Ivory Coast (February 18, 2020), Burundi (February 28, 2020), Zambia (October 27, 2020) and the Kingdom of Eswatini (October 27, 2020).

Whereas the African countries that have opened consulates general in the city of Dakhla (7 countries), are: Gambia (January 7, 2020), Guinea Conakry (January 17, 2020), Djibouti (February 28, 2020), Liberia (March 12, 2020), Burkina Faso, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau (October 23, 2020).