Consulates have been opened by a number of countries in the Sahrawi territories occupied by Morocco in return for financial or material aid, reveals the Moroccan opposition news site Le Desk.
According to the same source, 16 countries, mainly African, have opened diplomatic representations in Laâyoune and Dakhla while no community belonging to these countries lives in these areas. It rather evokes the will of the Moroccan Kingdom to influence the UN authorities in a roundabout way.
Among the countries that have benefited from Moroccan aid, the Desk cites Guinea-Bissau, whose opening of the consulate in Dakhla last October was preceded by the dispatch of a Moroccan technical commission for the construction of a new headquarters for the Bissau-Guinean Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“It is besides the head of the diplomacy of this country who announced it, in all transparency, to the press”, indicates the site which also evokes the project of realization of three schools of vocational training in Guinea-Bissau . Morocco also plans, according to the same site, to ensure the dredging of the port of Bissau free of charge.
The opening of the Djibouti consulate, in Dakhla in February 2020, was followed by the signing of a contract “for the establishment and development of an oil jetty in the Damerjog industrial park”.
A project supported by the Moroccan construction company SOMAGEC. The project kicked off last September.
According to the same site, Moroccan companies were responsible for building the headquarters of a ministry in The Gambia, real estate projects in the Comoros Islands and social housing in Haiti in return for the establishment of consulates in the occupied Sahrawi territories. .
“On January 23, it was Sao Tome and Principe, an African island state of 210,000 inhabitants, which also opened a consulate in Laâyoune.
A few months earlier, it was Prime Minister Jorge Bom Jesus who announced that Morocco intended to contribute to the state budget of his country, to the tune of one million dollars per year “, notes, moreover, the site .
“For the health sector, the Sao Tome foreign minister indicated that in addition to providing a batch of drugs, the authorities of the Kingdom of Morocco have made an amount available to support the health sector in the face of needs. presented by the ministry of supervision “, adds the site.
Le Desk also speaks of the existence of close links between the business world and Moroccan diplomacy, citing businessmen such as Rahal Boulgoute, boss of Marita Groupe. His role “attends VIPs and foreign chancelleries, including, for example, the director of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) or Morris Sackor, vice-president of the CNI of Liberia”.
Abolition of visas, granting of study grants, strengthening of investments, training of experts and students, are also among the aids granted by Morocco for the benefit of countries which have opened diplomatic representations in Dakhla and Laâyoune, specifies the opposition press organ.
