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US Launches Work on Consulate in Disputed Western Sahara

Agence France-Presse

   RABAT, MOROCCO - The United States on Sunday started the process of
   establishing a consulate in contested Western Sahara, after Washington
   recognized Morocco's sovereignty there in exchange for Rabat
   normalizing ties with Israel.

   U.S. Ambassador to Morocco David Fischer visited the port of Dakhla,
   1,440 kilometers (895 miles) southwest of Rabat in the far south of
   Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara, to mark the start of work on a
   diplomatic office.

   "It is such an honor for me to visit this stunningly beautiful and
   critically important region of Morocco, and to begin the process of
   establishing a U.S. diplomatic presence here," Fischer said, according
   to the U.S. embassy.

   Western Sahara is a disputed and divided former Spanish colony, mostly
   under Morocco's control, where tensions with the pro-independence
   Polisario Front have simmered since the 1970s.

   Last year, Morocco joined the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan
   in agreeing to normalize ties with Israel under U.S.-brokered deals.

   In return, U.S. President Donald Trump fulfilled a decades-old Moroccan
   goal by backing its contested sovereignty over the barren but
   phosphate-rich region, which lies next to key Atlantic fishing zones.

   Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said Sunday that "Morocco feels
   stronger in its legitimate fight for its territorial integrity '¦ with
   the support of its friends."

   The Algerian-backed Polisario Front fought a war for independence from
   1975 to 1991 and controls about one-fifth of the desert territory.

   Some 20 countries, mostly African and Arab nations, have opened
   diplomatic offices in the Moroccan-held area, but the Polisario
   considers such moves to be violations of international law.

   Bachir Mustapha Sayed, a representative of the Polisario's Sahrawi Arab
   Democratic Republic, called the American delegation's visit a
   "propaganda tourist trip" and recalled that the Trump "administration
   will come to an end in less than two weeks" in an interview with
   Algerian press agency APS.

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