(SPS)- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Colombia announced yesterday, Tuesday, November 15, in the framework of the balance of the first 100 days of its government, its agreement and approval for the opening of a new embassy of the Saharawi Republic in Bogota.
With this announcement, Colombia and the Saharawi Republic raise their bilateral relations to their highest level, following the declaration of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Andean country on 10 August last, by which the “Government of the Republic of Colombia, inspired by the principles and purposes of the Charter of the United Nations, reaffirms the validity of the Joint Communiqué signed with the Government of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic on 27 February 1985”.
The Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs justifies the opening of the new Saharawi diplomatic mission in Bogotá as an important contribution, “which will strengthen bilateral dialogue and relations between the two countries”, as “an essential component of the Africa Strategy 2022-2026, which ensures greater presence of Colombia in Africa, orienting bilateral issues towards memory, historical reparation and ethno-racial justice”, it concluded.
It is worth noting that in the case of the Sahrawi Republic, the only African nation whose parts of its territory are still under foreign occupation, the announcement constitutes, in the eyes of many observers, “a gesture towards such historical reparation and justice, with an African nation with deep Hispanic roots”. In fact, Colombian President Gustavo Petro himself, during his interview for Canal France 24 and Radio France International on 13 November at the Paris Peace Conference, denounced the double standards of certain countries by labelling “foreign invasions as good and bad”, while keeping a resounding silence in the face of others. Petro went so far as to ask: “why is the invasion of Western Sahara not condemned, or perhaps because its inhabitants have darker skin and speak Spanish, we are not going to denounce it”, concluded the Colombian leader.
Gracias, Presidente @petrogustavo por denunciar en un día como hoy, el doble rasero de las “invasiones, buenas y malas”.
Gracias por recordarlo al mundo.
El 14 de noviembre de 1975, fueron firmados los ilegales Acuerdos Tripartitos de Madrid para invadir el Sáhara Occidental. pic.twitter.com/Vgcu9puZDQ— Embajador Mohamed Zrug🇪🇭 (@MohamedZrug) November 14, 2022
The important announcement of the Colombian executive to open a Saharawi embassy reinforces the recent decision of the Colombian legislature, with the creation in Bogotá of the Colombia-SADR Parliamentary Friendship Group, in whose constitutive act its founders expressed on 18 October last their desire to “strengthen these relations of great benefit to both nations”.
For the Sahrawi Ambassador responsible for relations with Latin America and the Caribbean, Mr. Mohamed ZRUG, “with the new Embassy in Colombia, SADR reinforces its strategic commitment to historical, linguistic and cultural ties with the Latin American continent, where, in addition to having, since the late 70s of the last century, an important number of embassies and missions, it maintains diplomatic relations with most of its member states and enjoys a growing solidarity movement”.
In the eyes of several analysts consulted, the decision by Colombia and other countries in the region to strengthen their diplomatic relations with the Saharawi Republic is not only due to their governments’ unrestricted adherence to international legality, but also constitutes a “firm political and diplomatic response to Morocco’s manoeuvres to sabotage the decolonisation process in Western Sahara for three decades”, by resuming the war against the Saharawi people since 13 November 2020, and a “warning, more than veiled, to its aggressive lobbying for meddling in matters of national sovereignty, which many observers agree is financed and monitored from Rabat”.
