Far from being a demonstration of force, the triumphant welcome given by the South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, to the leader of the Polisario, last October 18 in Pretoria, proves above all the failure of his previous attempts to harm Morocco and to its territorial integrity. Decryption.
The reception with great pomp reserved on October 18 by the South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, to the boss of the Polisario is not a demonstration of force, but a move of spite. When South Africa recognized the pseudo SADR in 2004, it thought that this decision would snowball, that all of Africa would follow, that the whole world would follow suit, that it would bring about a change root in the file.
Some 17 years later, the situation is bitter for Pretoria. South Africa has not succeeded in preventing Morocco from reintegrating its family into the AU, nor its entry into the Peace and Security Council of this same pan-African body. As it did not prevent the AU from managing the file in a balanced way, nor from blocking the dynamics in favor of the autonomy plan. As a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, in 2019 and 2020, Pretoria had no influence on the adoption of resolutions favorable to the Kingdom. The country, led by Ramaphosa, sees every month, powerless, increasing the number of African countries that open consulates in Laayoune and Dakhla. So, what leverage does this country have left in its activism hostile to the territorial integrity of Morocco? The show, by rolling out the red carpet to an assassin-rapist and wearing the rag of an illegitimate entity.
In short, Morocco has established a dynamic on the file which has made inaudible the theses of the Algeria-Polisario tandem and their South African support.
The one who was welcomed with the ceremonial reserved for a statesman is a bloodthirsty brute, accused of “murders of Canarian workers” by the Canarian Association of Victims of Terrorism (Acavite). An association, made up of Spanish citizens, which affirms that Brahim Ghali is the main sponsor of the assassinations, collective kidnappings and disappearances of crews on the high seas of Canarian sailors during the period from 1973 to the end of 1986. who Ramaphosa rolled out the red carpet is also accused of rape in a consular building in Algiers by Khadijatou Mahmoud whose story is chilling.
The trap of comparison with Kaïs Saïed’s Tunisia
The spokespersons of the Algerian regime quickly seized the welcome given by Ramaphosa to Benbattouch to challenge the Kingdom to react in the same way as for “little Tunisia” when Kaïs Saïed rolled out the red carpet to the leader of the separatists in Carthage airport.
The comparison between Tunisia and South Africa has no place. First, it should be remembered that this is not the first time that Benbattouch has been received by the South African president. Then and above all, Tunisia does not recognize the pseudo-RASD. Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed rolled out the red carpet for the boss of an entity that his country does not recognize. However, it is this distinction between the countries which recognize the SADR and those which do not recognize it which serves almost as a doctrine for the Kingdom in the conduct to be followed in this case.
This Moroccan doctrine applies in a firm and intransigent way towards the countries which do not recognize the Polisario and which receive the leader of the separatists. Everyone has in mind the crisis caused by the reception of Benbattouch in Spain.
There are not two weights, two measures, but two distinct situations which are managed coherently by Moroccan diplomacy.
Moreover, the Tunisian power acted under the influence of the Algerian regime to which it is completely vassalized.
The royal policy has stabilized the relationship with a number of countries that still recognize the pseudo-RASD. One only has to see the change in behavior of Rwanda, Ethiopia, Ghana and Nigeria, countries that still recognize the pseudo-SADR to understand that the empty chair policy is no longer a option for the Kingdom of Morocco.