Denmark has expressed its support for Morocco’s Autonomy Plan for Western Sahara.
The Danish country thus became the eighteenth European country to approve the Moroccan proposal for the region as the most serious and credible way of resolving the Sahrawi dispute, which has lasted for almost five decades since Spain left the territory as a colonial power.
The Nordic country thus joins a long list of more than 100 countries who support the Moroccan project for Western Sahara.
“In support of autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty, the Kingdom of Denmark considers the Autonomy Plan proposed by Morocco in 2007 as a serious and credible contribution to the ongoing international process and as a solid basis for a mutually agreed solution between all parties. the parties”, indicated the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the Danish position.
This new position of the Kingdom of Denmark was announced following a meeting between Nasser Bourita, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Morocco, and his Danish counterpart, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, in New York, on the sidelines of the high-level week of the 79th session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly.
This Danish decision represents a new diplomatic triumph for Morocco by reaching a sphere, such as Northern Europe, which interests the Moroccan kingdom in terms of international support.
Morocco continues to gain international support for its territorial integrity, as the Moroccan kingdom considers Western Sahara part of its southern provinces. The North African country presented its autonomy plan for Western Sahara to the United Nations Security Council in 2007, which continues to receive a growing groundswell of support.
This plan provides for broad autonomy for the Sahrawi territory under Moroccan sovereignty, giving the Sahrawi authorities a great capacity for action and leaving defense and national policy in the hands of the Moroccan state. All in compliance with the relevant United Nations resolutions.
Morocco’s proposal was widely welcomed internationally. More than 100 countries support the initiative, including powers such as the United States, France, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, Israel and Spain, which consider the initiative the most serious way, the most credible and realistic way to resolve the situation.
On the opposition side, the Polisario Front, supported by Algeria, proposes the organization of a referendum on the independence of the Sahrawi population, difficult to implement due to problems such as the establishment of electoral rolls, as various analysts have pointed out, and which has much less international support.
On this point, Algeria continues to support the independence position of the Polisario Front, which undermines the so-called territorial integrity of Morocco, and continues to clash with the Moroccan kingdom, with which it severed diplomatic relations in August 2021, citing “hostile acts” by the kingdom and major political differences on issues such as Western Sahara.
Denmark, already last August, came out in favor of the Moroccan autonomy initiative as the most viable option to resolve the situation in Western Sahara, and now officially becomes the eighteenth European country to support the Moroccan proposal as the most reliable of all, after Slovenia, which in June also came out in favor of the Moroccan proposal for the Sahara.
Morocco plans significant development of Western Sahara at all levels, which appeals to countries on the international scene, who see the Moroccan proposal as the best option for the Sahrawi territory. All this within the framework of a broad consensus on the need to reach a political agreement between the opposing parties involved in the issue, including Algeria, within the framework of the United Nations.
Morocco has clearly indicated that its proposal is the best for Western Sahara, and this is what the Moroccan authorities have affirmed in their latest interventions, such as that of Aziz Akhannouch, Moroccan Prime Minister, and Minister Nasser Bourita at the United Nations headquarters.
According to Aziz Akhannouch, the growing support for Morocco sends a “clear message to other parties and the United Nations that the time has come to move towards a political solution based on this framework, through a series of roundtables and resolutions of the United Nations Security Council United”.
