Somalia announced Friday in New York its decision to open an embassy in Rabat, the capital city of Morocco, and a consulate general in Dakhla, a city in the disputed territory of Western Sahara, currently occupied by Morocco.
Rabat – Somalia on Friday announced its plans to open an embassy in Rabat and a consulate in Dakhla, reiterating its interest in boosting multi-sectoral cooperation with Morocco.
“Somalia decides to open an embassy in Rabat and a consulate general in Dakhla,” Somalia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Abshir Omar Jama said after a meeting with his Moroccan counterpart Nasser Bourita in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
Quoting Somalia’s chief diplomat, a Moroccan press release said that Rabat and Mogadishu “support their mutual sovereignty and territorial integrity,” adding that the two countries enjoy long-standing relations based on friendship and solidarity.
Jama added that a road map of cooperation will soon be signed by the two countries to advance strategic partnerships in numerous sectors.
In April, Somali’s then-Foreign Minister Mahmoud Abdi Hassan highlighted the “brotherly” bilateral relations in a meeting with Bourita, calling upon both countries to explore new areas of cooperation.
Hassan’s call for cooperation follows years of Somali continuous support for Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara which was translated on multiple occasions into concrete actions.
In November 2020, for instance, Somalia issued a statement following the Moroccan military operation to reopen the Guerguerat crossing point.
The statement read, “The government of the Federal Republic of Somalia stands alongside the brotherly Kingdom of Morocco in all the measures it undertakes to protect its security and sovereignty over its territories at the Guerguerat crossing point between Morocco and Mauritania.”
Despite the absence of a Somali diplomatic representation in Morocco, Mogadishu has maintained good relations with Rabat, leading to the creation of the Morocco-Somalia High Joint Committee in 2019 to advance political consultation as well as economic and cultural cooperation.
