In an official statement, the Republic of Ghana has severed diplomatic relations with the Polisario Front 46 years after recognizing the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) in 1979.
This news is a new blow to the diplomacy of the separatist group. The decision was made, according to the Ghanaian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in support of Morocco’s autonomy plan for Western Sahara, which the Alawite country formalized in 2007.
“The Republic of Ghana has decided to immediately inform, through diplomatic channels, the Government of the Kingdom of Morocco, the African Union and the United Nations of this position,” we read in the official press release that the Ghanaian authorities notified their Moroccan counterparts.
With this decision, Ghana joins the list of 46 countries (including 13 African) which have severed all ties with the SADR since 2000. The last of them was Panama. Sharing a border with Burkina Faso, one of the most terrorist-active countries in the Sahel, contributed to the decision to stop supporting the Polisario Front.
In the same communication, Ghana expressed its support for “good faith efforts” of the North African nation to find a solution to the Sahara question that is acceptable to all parties.
This decision coincides with the inauguration of the country’s new president, John Dramani Mahama. This new diplomatic shift, which comes in a context of strengthening bilateral relations between Morocco and Ghana, particularly in terms of trade and investment, will mark a turning point between the two States.
