Albania has backed Morocco’s autonomy initiative as a “serious and credible basis to settle this regional dispute” over the Moroccan Sahara.

This stance was outlined in a Joint Statement signed Saturday in Rabat by Albania’s Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Igli Hasani, and Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates, Nasser Bourita.

Albania also underscored the importance of the Sahara issue for Morocco and acknowledged the Kingdom’s serious and credible efforts within the United Nations framework to achieve a mutually acceptable solution, according to the statement.

Both ministers also reaffirmed their support for the UN-led political process and the efforts of the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for the Sahara, to reach a peaceful and mutually acceptable resolution to the conflict, in line with UN Security Council resolutions, particularly Resolution 2756 (2024).

Albania’s stance strengthens the growing international momentum in favor of Morocco’s sovereignty over its Sahara and the Autonomy Plan under Moroccan sovereignty, a solution endorsed by numerous countries, under the leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may God assist Him.

-MAP

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Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Murat Nurtleu, expressed, on Friday in Rabat, his country’s support for Morocco’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and for the Autonomy Plan presented by the Kingdom in 2007.

In a Joint Statement, signed by Nurtleu and Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates, Nasser Bourita, following their talks, Kazakhstan expressed its support for “the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Morocco and welcomed in this regard the Autonomy Plan presented by Morocco as serious and credible basis to reach through negotiations a political solution to the Sahara issue.”

Kazakhstan’s unequivocal support for the Autonomy Plan, within the framework of the Kingdom’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, is of particular significance, given the country’s importance and leading role in the Central Asian region.

This significant support reinforces the Kingdom’s major achievements regarding its national cause, in line with the High Guidelines of His Majesty the King, may God assist Him.

Kazakhstan thus joins the massive international support for the Autonomy Plan as the one and only solution to the regional dispute surrounding the Kingdom’s Southern Provinces.

In the same Joint Statement, the Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, currently on an official visit to the Kingdom at the invitation of Bourita, underlined that the Republic of Kazakhstan “highly appreciates the efforts undertaken by the United Nations Secretary General and his Personal Envoy for the Sahara in accordance with the parameters defined in the relevant Security Council resolutions on the Sahara issue.”

Kazakhstan thus affirmed its support for the exclusively UN political process on the issue of the Moroccan Sahara, conducted by the resolutions of the Security Council.

The latest UN Security Council resolution on the Moroccan Sahara, 2756, adopted on 31/10/2024, reaffirmed the seriousness and credibility of the Autonomy Initiative, confirmed the parameters of the political, realistic, pragmatic, lasting and compromise solution to the artificial dispute over the Moroccan Sahara, and promoted the roundtable setting as the sole framework for conducting the UN political process.

-MAP

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Rwanda on Thursday described recent criticism of its Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Paris St Germain sponsorship deals by the Democratic Republic of Congo’s foreign minister as a threat to regional peace and stability.

Earlier this month DRC’s foreign minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner urged the three clubs to end their “blood-stained” sponsorship agreements with “Visit Rwanda”, questioning the morality of such partnerships while fighting raged in eastern Congo.

Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have seized a number of key towns and cities there in what is the gravest escalation in more than a decade of a long-running conflict rooted in the spillover into Congo of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide and the struggle for control of Congo’s vast mineral resources.

“The Government of Rwanda rejects recent attempts by the Democratic Republic of Congo to undermine Rwanda’s international partnerships through misinformation and political pressure,” Rwanda Development Board, which oversees the deals, said in a statement on Thursday.

“These efforts not only misrepresent the truth but also threaten the foundations of regional peace, stability, and economic cooperation that we have worked tirelessly to build.”

Congo’s Kayikwamba Wagner repeated her criticisms in a swift response, claiming Rwanda had more than 4,000 troops fighting alongside the M23 and pointing to the recent condemnation from the UN, the United States and other G7 nations.

The fighting in eastern Congo has led to human rights violations including summary executions, the bombing of displacement camps, reports of gang rape and other sexual violence, according to the United Nations.

The U.S. on Thursday made its most direct intervention in the crisis so far as it imposed sanctions on Rwanda’s government minister for Regional Integration, who it said was “central” to Rwanda’s support of the M23 militant group.

Rwanda says it is defending itself, accusing Congo’s military of joining forces with ethnic Hutu-led militias bent on slaughtering Tutsis in Congo and threatening Rwanda, where Hutus targeted Tutsis in a 1994 genocide and some of them later fled to Congo.

“Visit Rwanda” began their sponsorship of Arsenal in 2018, with the latest deal reported to be worth more than 10 million pounds ($12 million) per year.

Bayern Munich signed a five-year football development and tourism promotion partnership with Rwanda in 2023, while “Visit Rwanda” has been a sponsor of PSG since 2019.

Reuters previously contacted the three clubs about the sponsorship deals but none replied.

“We encourage all of Rwanda’s international partners… to think very carefully if Rwanda is a country that aligns with their values,” DRC’s Kayikwamba Wagner said in her statement on Thursday.

-Reuters

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