The Gambia is the latest African country queuing up to declare support for Morocco in the kingdom’s bid to maintain sovereignty over the bitterly disputed West Sahara, APA learnt on Monday.
Adama Barrow, the president of mainland Africa’s smallest nation told the recently concluded UN General Assembly in New York that his country like in the recent past would now and in the foreseeable future back Morocco’s sovereign claim over the enclave, a dusty strip of desert land etched on the northwest of the continent.
Since the mid-1970s, this tiny expanse straddling the Atlantic coast between Mauritania and Morocco has been mired in a separatist conflict orchestrated by the Polisario Front.
However, speaking at the UN last week President Barrow declared unequivocally that Moroccan sovereignty and territorial rights over the enclave ‘should be recognized by all other nations of the world body.
The Gambian leader said his government was a strong supporter of Morocco’s so-called Autonomy Initiative for the enclave which he believes constitutes a more feasible compromise in line with UN resolutions than any other alternative.
Banjul’s position on the disputed Sharawi comes after Kenya’s new president William Ruto declared support for Morocco’s scheme for the enclave days after his investiture.
Although it would take the Kenyan parliament to ratify this policy, it signifies a symbolic U-turn for the East African country which had initially oscillated toward the Polisario separatists.
WN/as/APA