President Donald Trump announced the latest normalization agreement between an Arab country and Israel, this time involving Morocco, with much fanfare yesterday. Whatever else the agreement includes, it appears that the U.S. offered a couple of appetizers to sweeten the deal for Rabat. One of these was recognition of Morocco’s claim to the Western Sahara, a claim which has been contested for decades by groups within the Western Sahara. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman James Inhofe, who is already on the opposite side of the fence with Trump on the defense authorization bill, went ballistic over the recognition. “The President has been poorly advised by his team; he could have made this deal without trading the rights of a voiceless people,” he said. The Polisario Front, the armed insurgency which has been opposing Rabat’s claim on the Western Sahara since 1979, issued a statement denouncing Trump for giving something to Morocco that wasn’t his to give.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov reminded the U.S. that in fact there are UN resolutions dealing with the Western Sahara and international efforts to resolve the conflict. “This is a violation of international law. There are relevant resolutions, there is a UN mission for holding a referendum in Western Sahara,” Bogdanov told reporters today, reported Sputnik. “Everything that Americans currently do is a unilateral decision that goes beyond international law and decisions of the United Nations Security Council’s resolution, which Americans themselves supported.”
