Sahara: Ecuador suspends recognition of self-proclaimed SADR

The Republic of Ecuador decided on Tuesday to suspend its recognition of the so-called «SADR» (Sahara Arab Democratic Republic).

During a telephone interview, the Ecuadorian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gabriela Sommerfeld, informed her Moroccan counterpart, Nasser Bourita, of her country’s sovereign decision.

The Quito decision comes on the eve of a UN Security Council meeting to adopt a new resolution on the Sahara. The members of the Security Council should renew MINURSO’s mandate, which expires on 31 October, for one year.

Ecuador’s decision opens a new chapter in relations between the Kingdom of North Africa and this Latin American country. It comes in the context of growing international support for Morocco’s sovereignty over its Sahara and its autonomy initiative, which the international community describes as the ONLY «serious, credible and realistic» solution to the regional conflict in the Sahara.

This dynamic is based on the opening of several consulates in the Moroccan Saharan cities of Laayoune and Dakhla, the Morocco-Nigeria gas pipeline project, and the Royal Atlantic Initiative. The latter aims to make the Atlantic a unique space of connectivity and advanced integration between the nations of the South and their international partners, a crucial step towards achieving Atlantic prosperity.

These measures send a clear message to the world superpowers, partners, friends, and enemies of Morocco, especially to the other parties to the regional conflict in the Sahara and to the UN, that the time has come to move towards a political solution based on the severe autonomy plan, through the round table process and in accordance with United Nations resolutions.