Moroccan Sahara: Troika is Mechanism of Accompaniment and Support for UN Exclusive Efforts (MFA Mr. Nasser Bourita)

The Troika mechanism is not a mechanism for managing or proposing voicing propositions on the Moroccan Sahara issue, but rather a mechanism for accompanying and supporting the exclusive efforts of the United Nations, underlined, Sunday,  February 07, 2021, in Rabat, the minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Abroad, Nasser Bourita.

Manoeuvers to involve the African Union in the management of the issue of the Moroccan Sahara took place through an attempt to forcefully hold the Troika mechanism, MFA Bourita pointed out at a press briefing held in Rabat on the occasion of the 34th Ordinary Session of the African Union Assembly.

Morocco considered that the holding of this mechanism under the previous South African presidency was not appropriate because of its partial and non-objective position, he explained.

Under an objective and unbiased presidency, the Troika must support and accompany the exclusive efforts of the United Nations in strict respect of its prerogatives defined by resolution 693, he said.

The next Troika will be more balanced since it will be composed as of today of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Senegal and South Africa for one year, while from 2022 it will be made up of the DRC, Senegal and the Comoros, he said, noting that “everything that has been imagined under a South African presidency will have to be evaluated in the light of concrete results”.

Especially since Africa understands the instrumentalisation that has been made of its structures and mechanisms so that the AU serves the agenda of some diplomaties and not the continent’s agenda, underlined Bourita, noting that since the post of Commissioner for Peace and Security belongs to a single country (2004), the AU has been instrumentalized in one direction.

“All those who want to involve the AU in this issue will systematically find Moroccan diplomacy mobilized so that the AU is not involved in this issue which is the responsibility of the United Nations,” said Bourita.

All the maneuvers over the past few weeks have been aimed at distorting a message from Africa to claim that the continent is not satisfied with the position taken by the US administration. However, the reaction of the Summit is a clear message: The issue is undergoing profound changes which go in the direction of support for the Moroccan autonomy plan and in the direction of Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara, Mr. Bourita pointed out.