In a scene reflecting the isolation of the Moroccan regime and the decline of its influence within Arab and African circles, the Moroccan delegation was forced to sit side by side with the delegation of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic during the Arab African Youth Conference held in Kampala, the capital of Uganda. This came after the Moroccan delegation’s desperate and failed attempts to prevent Sahrawi participation and disrupt it through various usual methods of political and financial pressure and blackmail.

The conference, established in 2004 in Khartoum as a framework for cooperation and exchange between the youth of the Arab and African continents, takes place in a regional context characterized by the increasing presence of the Sahrawi cause in international forums. This has caused discomfort to the Moroccan occupation regime, pushing it to resort again to its usual methods of financial blackmail and buying loyalties.

Informed diplomatic sources revealed that the Moroccan representatives inside the conference, in collusion with African and Arab officials supervising the conference, moved in open coordination to serve the Moroccan agenda aimed at excluding the Sahrawi delegation and silencing its voice within the conference.

The sources added that Morocco, as usual, relied on political money to incite some organizers against the Sahrawi Republic, exploiting its relationships and funding sources in an attempt to repeat last year’s scenario, which failed due to the cohesion of the Sahrawi stance and the principled support from Algeria, Uganda, and Africa for the necessity of respecting the Sahrawi Republic representatives’ right to participate.

Although the Ugandan Ministry of Foreign Affairs clearly expressed the necessity of respecting all member states and their participation without discrimination, some parties within the conference’s organizing committee sided with the Moroccan position, ignoring official directives, in a lack of transparency that contradicts the principles of joint youth work.

Since the beginning of last August, the Sahrawi embassy, in close coordination with the Algerian embassy in Kampala and officials in the Ugandan foreign ministry, conducted a series of communications and consultations with various African and Arab partners and organizations to counter exclusion attempts and affirm the Sahrawi Republic’s legitimate right to representation and participation.

These efforts were successful, as the organizing committee ultimately welcomed the participation of the Sahrawi delegation as the official representative of a founding state and member of the African Union, which was considered a victory for Sahrawi diplomacy and recognition of the justness of the Sahrawi cause and its continental and international standing.

The Moroccan delegation tried to physically obstruct participation in a direct provocation to all participants, only to face a group of African delegations, headed by the Algerian delegation participating in this event, led by the Algerian ambassador to Uganda, who was well informed of the conspiracy details since last year and expressed his rejection of any leniency towards Moroccan bullying against any African delegation, especially against a member state of the Union.

After foiling the Moroccan attempt, the Sahrawi delegation held fruitful meetings with youth and diplomatic delegations from various participating countries, during which they affirmed support for the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination and exposed the colonial practices of the Moroccan occupation delegation and its ongoing violations in the occupied Sahrawi territories.

The Sahrawi delegation received a warm welcome from the participating delegations, as its presence confirmed the international legitimacy of the Western Sahara issue and marked a new success in the popular diplomacy battle waged by Sahrawi delegations.

At the conclusion of the conference, participants unanimously agreed on the necessity to strengthen cooperation between Arab and African youth within a framework of mutual respect and national sovereignty, away from the logic of exclusion and political money that the Moroccan regime tries to impose in all regional forums.

The Sahrawi Republic was represented at this meeting by the Chargé d’Affaires at the embassy, Mr. Mohamed Ali El-Daf.