PUSL.- On 1st of March, a letter was deliberately leaked in the Moroccan press in which Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita reportedly asked the government to suspend communications with all German entities in Rabat, citing “deep disagreements” with Berlin on “issues fundamental for Morocco.”
On the same day State Secretary Miguel Berger stated that “The federal government is watching this with concern,” referring to t reports from the Western Sahara, according to which persons are discriminated or even prosecuted who openly oppose Moroccan occupation. The answer to these reports form the Federal Government had been requested by Die Linke in the Bundestag.
While the Federal Foreign Office expresses “concern” about the actions of Morocco in Western Sahara.
Morocco receives 1.4 billion euros in development aid from Germany alone besides the billions of aid under human rights and development aid from the EU.
The critical stance of the German government towards Morocco’s dealings and occupation of Western Sahara has been a recent thorn for the Moroccan Kingdom who was convinced that the null declarations of Trump in tweets and statements that do not comply neither with international law nor the USA law, would be enough to be recognized by the whole world as the legal “owner” of the occupied territories and that they would be seen as a part of Morocco. Nothing could be further from reality.
However German companies and their subsidiaries continue to be present in the occupied territories of Western Sahara, financing not only the occupying state but also hiring Moroccan settlers instead of Saharawi and contributing to the introduction of more and more settlers in a direct and indirect manner.
Morocco is a long-standing partner with whom Germany has numerous projects.
External expert Omid Nouripour of the German Green Party has according to German Newspapers the impression that “Germany has not contributed to the problem” and believes that Moroccans “irritations will soon be resolved”.
The Deputy of the FDP parliamentary group , Alexander Graf Lambsdorff suspects that it was Moroccans fear that US President Joe Biden will reverse the decision of his predecessor to recognize the claim to Western Sahara and therefore this action is to increase the pressure behind the Morocco maneuver.
A foreign FDP expert stated to Saarbruecker Zeitung that it is a matter of resolving this question in accordance with international law and at the same time avoiding the suspension of important diplomatic relations.
According to the same newspaper, Left-wing foreign politician Sevim Dagdelen called on the German government not to recognize the continuing illegal occupation of Western Sahara by Morocco and not to give in to pressure from Rabat.
Germany has reaffirmed his adherence to the UN resolutions and the right of the Saharawi People according to international Law countless times over the years since the Moroccan invasion in 1975. In fact no country has ever recognized the occupation as legal since it is not possible due to the status of the territory. Furthermore. Spain never finished the descolonization process and continues to be de administrator de iure.
Morocco is in fact making a huge propaganda not to convince the International Community but to impress its own people and making a show of force. The critics against the Moroccan regime are rising each day not only inside Morocco with countless demonstrations in the streets but also in the social media , where Moroccan citizens and journalists are denouncing the situation in Morocco which is not only appalling at the human rights level, also the corruption and the economic disaster linked to the brutal repression is evident although silenced in the conventional media.
The fact that Polisario Front declared the end of the cease-fire after the violation of Morocco last November, and the strength and unity that is evident among the saharawi population in the occupied territories, the diaspora and the refugee camps is a factor that creates further instability inside Morocco.
