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Jacob Zuma, former South African president and current leader of the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party, has intensified his support for Morocco’s territorial sovereignty over the Sahara during a high-profile lecture at Ghana’s University of Professional Studies in Accra, reported the news platform Morocco World News.
Speaking this week to an academic audience, Zuma directly challenged the African National Congress’s foreign policy stance while praising Ghana’s recent endorsement of Morocco’s Autonomy Plan. His remarks emphasized opposition to what he characterized as Africa’s artificial fragmentation serving external interests rather than continental unity.
“Africa must not be divided for outsiders’ convenience. The era of balkanizing Africa to serve foreign agendas has ended,” Zuma was quoted by mwn.com as saying. He thus positioned Ghana’s support for Morocco as exemplary Pan-African leadership that prioritizes stability and integration over separatist movements.
The MK Party leader highlighted flourishing South Africa-Morocco bilateral relations, citing over twenty cooperation agreements spanning trade, defense, agriculture, and information technology sectors. He specifically commended Ghana’s January withdrawal of recognition from the Polisario entity and its June affirmation that Morocco’s 2007 Autonomy Plan represents the sole realistic basis for resolving the dispute.
Zuma’s intervention follows his July visit to Rabat, where he met Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita, triggering controversy when South African and Moroccan flags were displayed together. Despite ANC criticism, diplomatic documentation confirmed the visit’s official coordination through South Africa’s embassy in Rabat.
Ghana’s policy reversal joins over 120 countries supporting Morocco’s territorial integrity, with 46 nations withdrawing recognition from Polisario since 2000. This shift includes thirteen African states and major international powers including the United States, France, Spain, and the United Kingdom, reflecting growing consensus around Morocco’s sovereignty claims while isolating Algeria’s separatist project.
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