Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

Morocco: Jordan to Open Consulate in Laayoune


Fri 20 Nov 2020 | 10:18 AM
Nawal Sayed

The Royal Court in Morocco announced, Thursday, that King Abdullah II of Jordan expressed to his Moroccan counterpart, King Mohammed VI, his country's desire to open a general consulate in Laayoune city, in Western Sahara.

The Moroccan Royal Court statement stated that the foreign ministries of the two countries will coordinate to put in place the necessary arrangements to open the Jordanian consulate in the Moroccan city of Laayoune.

The statement added that King Abdullah II endorsed the Moroccan decisions to re-secure the flow of civil and commercial traffic in the Guerguerat region of the Moroccan Sahara.

In a telephone conversation, the King of Jordan congratulated King Mohammed VI for the successful reopening of the crossing for the safe passage of people and goods from the Kingdom of Morocco towards sub-Saharan African countries.

On his part, King Mohammed VI expressed to King Abdullah II his appreciation and gratitude for this important decision, which falls within the framework of the supportive positions that the Kingdom of Jordan "has been expressing on Morocco's territorial integrity.”

[caption id="attachment_174833" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]Morocco: Jordan to Open Consulate in Laayoune A handout picture published by the Royal Moroccan Army Facebook page on November 13, 2020, shows members of the Polisario Front leaving their camping site near the Mauritanian border in Guerguerat located in the Western Sahara, along the road leading to Mauritania, after the intervention of the royal Moroccan armed forces.[/caption]

Earlier, the United Arab Emirates had opened a consulate in the Moroccan city of Laayoune in a push for relations between the two countries.

Thus, this will be the second Arab diplomatic representation in Western Sahara, while the largest city in Western Sahara, along with Dakhla, in the south, is hosting 15 other consulates for sub-Saharan African countries since late last year.

This announcement comes amid severe tension in the region after thirty years of ceasefire.

The Polisario Front declared a week ago a "state of war" in response to a Moroccan military operation at the border crossing in the buffer zone in Guerguerat.

The Moroccan military operation aimed at resuming traffic movement after it was cut off by associates of the front calling for independence for the former Spanish colony.

Several Arab countries had expressed support for Morocco, while the return of tension raised concern at the level of the United Nations, the European Union, the African Union, and many countries, and calls for respecting the ceasefire.