Morocco nets one more supporter for Sahara dossier: Somalia
Somalia is about to set up an embassy in Rabat and a consulate in Dakhla in December, Maghrebi.org has learnt.
Discussions between the Moroccan foreign ministry and the new government in Mogadishu have been going on for a number of months, but on December 13th, the Somali President is expected to visit Rabat, following an invitation from the palace, hand delivered in person by Morocco’s sport, culture and youth minister Bensaid Mehdi we can reveal.
Today, November 23rd an official invitation was sent to the Somali president, although few details are clear.
One of the points which the Somali government agreed on though was its support of Rabat’s position on Western Somalia. Little trade is expected to come of the new embassy, but Morocco will probably lend some support to the Somali government’s struggle with famine in the horn of Africa.
Morocco and Somalia have long-standing “brotherly” relations, reaffirmed their respective foreign ministers in April of this year.
Over the past few years, Somalia has shown support for Morocco’s sovereignty claims on Western Sahara, which was seen when Morocco launched an operation to reopen the Guerguerat crossing point in November 2020.
