Guatemala apoya firmemente a Marruecos y decide abrir consulado en Dajla
Guatemala has decided to open a consulate in Dakhla, in the southern provinces of the Kingdom of Morocco, thus reaffirming its support for the Moroccan proposal on Western Sahara.
The North African country defends a formula of broad autonomy for Western Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty as the most serious and realistic option for resolving the Sahrawi conflict that has lasted almost five decades. And Guatemala agrees with this line, something that became clear after the meeting held on Thursday between Nasser Bourita, Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Resident Abroad, and his Guatemalan counterpart, Mario Búcaro Flores, on the sidelines of the 77th General Assembly of the United Nations.
"Guatemala has reiterated its clear position on the regional dispute over the Moroccan Sahara, considering that autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty is the solution to this discrepancy and announces the decision to open a consulate in the city of Dakhla to take advantage of its economic potential and its openness to the rest of the African continent," according to a joint official statement issued after the meeting between the Foreign Ministers of the two countries.
"The concepts of sovereignty, peace and territorial integrity are very important to us. We support Morocco's position on this issue and we will continue to support Morocco forever", the head of diplomacy of the Central American country said in statements made to the press and echoed by media such as Atlas Info.
Mario Búcaro Flores highlighted "the reforms undertaken by Morocco under the leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI and its important role in the resolution of various problems in Africa and the Arab world" with a view to pacifying the Maghreb region and the Middle East.
For his part, Nasser Bourita highlighted "the efforts of the Government of Guatemala led by His Excellency the President of the Republic, Alejandro Giammattei, aimed at carrying out reforms in the country and strengthening its role at regional and international level to promote peace".
Morocco and Guatemala showed great harmony on various international issues and announced the intention to 'boost bilateral cooperation in the areas of tourism, training and energy, with special emphasis on agriculture and fertilisers (where Morocco plays an important role), at a time when the world is facing a major food crisis', as reported by Atlas Info.
This step is also a major boost for Dakhla, which is receiving significant support for its development. This has been demonstrated by the boost in investment that the area is receiving, for example with the holding of the Dakhla International Investors' Forum on 18 and 19 September.
Guatemala thus joins the list of countries that have decided to open consulates in the southern provinces of the Kingdom of Morocco, making it the 29th country to carry out this operation. Other countries with great international weight have already taken this decision, such as the United States and the United Arab Emirates.
The Alawi kingdom is receiving strong international backing for its formula for resolving the Sahrawi conflict, based on broad autonomy for Western Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty and respecting UN resolutions. This great diplomatic support had its key moment when Donald Trump's US administration recognised the Moroccan sovereignty of the Sahara in December 2020, something reaffirmed by Joe Biden's government, in exchange for Morocco establishing diplomatic ties with Israel following the dynamic of the famous Abraham Accords sealed in September 2020, by which various Arab countries such as the Emirates and Bahrain established political relations with the Israeli state under US mediation with a view to pacifying the Middle East and promoting the region's economic and social development. Subsequently, other nations such as Germany and Spain followed suit and recognised the Moroccan initiative as the most "realistic, serious and credible" way to solve the Western Sahara problem.
Opposing this trend is the opposing position of the Polisario Front, which advocates holding a referendum on independence for the Saharawis, a proposal that has less significant international support, including that of Algeria, Morocco's great political rival in the Maghreb, which has even broken off diplomatic relations with the Alawi kingdom due to the political differences between the two countries, including the resolution of the Western Sahara conflict.
Americas Coordinator: José Antonio Sierra
