The British ambassador to Morocco is in an embarrassing situation after the revelations of a conservative MP on his supposed opposition to the recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty.
the controversy started when the Conservative MP, Daniel Kawczynski, said during a discussion in the House of Commons in London that the British ambassador in Rabat, Simon Martin, is against the idea of his country recognizing the sovereignty of Morocco on the Sahara as the United States did. “During our visit to Morocco, we had a very unsatisfactory discussion with the British ambassador on the telephone. As on many other occasions, the British ambassador tried to indicate that we cannot recognise Western Sahara because somehow it will impinge on or affect our relationship with our overseas territories, particularly the Falkland Islands”, MP said.
According to his revelations , the arguments ot the ambassador are not convincing. “When he pressed the British ambassador to explain why and how that could be the case, no satisfactory response was forthcoming”, Kawczynski added.
He declared : “I seek clarification from the Minister on this point. Is it the fact that we cannot recognise Western Sahara as being Moroccan because there is some legal, constitutional or technical difficulty that might affect our relationship with our overseas territories? I cannot see that, given that France, which is in the process of recognising this issue, also has overseas territories. I would be grateful if the Minister could explain that point. We need to recognise Western Sahara, as Israel and America have done. At the very least, we should follow Spain, the former colonial power, along with Germany and France in recognising that the autonomy proposals are the only way forward”.