British official: Britain supports UN efforts for settlement of Sahara issue
By Mohamed Hikal
Moroco News Tribune
Taroudant, Morocco | The British embassy in the Moroccan capital, Rabat, through its communication and political affairs department, had arranged for a conference in one of Rabat’s luxurious hotels hall. The hall hosted a number of Moroccan media platforms that was in rendezvous with Rosemary Davis, foreign office spokesperson for the Middle East and North Africa. This conference tackled issues related to Syria, Palestine, and Arab spring and how the UK views what’s going on in Morocco.
In her reply to one of Hespress questions about how the UK perceives the Moroccan approach to call for change, Rosemary Davis explained that it would be inappropriate to talk about a single model to follow while dealing with protests and unrest.
“Each country has got its specificities and therefore each nation would follow its own pattern to achieve its utmost goals,” said the spokesperson.
The British official described the Moroccan political model as “generally positive”. This model, according to Davis, is supported by the British government through the Arab partnership program working on developmental files and conscious governance.
To a question about the Moroccan Sahara issue, Ms. Rosemary stated the UK stance is unchanging, explaining that her country’s position is so different from the US.
She added that David Cameron’s government opted for impartiality concerning such sensitive issue so that it could contribute positively to resolving it.
Always in military affairs, Ms. Davis seized the opportunity to acclaim the French intervention in Mali, which came as a response to a request from the Malian government. This intervention according to Davis spared the country lots of possible expansions by terrorist groups especially Al-Qaida in Islamic Maghreb.
Ms. Davis rebutted all allegations about how different the UK approaches unrest situations in Arab counties, namely Syria and Bahrain. She stated that her government’s attitudes are standardized regarding human rights and democracy issues.
She added that the UK is considering all possible solutions to resolve the Syrian issue, namely by imposing an economic pressure on Bashar Alassad regime and reconsidering arming the opposition in Syria.
As for the Palestinian file, Ms. Davis, who spoke Arabic quite eloquently, confirmed that her government is rather anxious about the colonial policy adopted by the Benjamin Netanyahu government as well as prisoners conditions.
In defense to Cameron’s policy against allegations accusing her government’s irresponsibility towards the Palestinian cause, Ms. Davis stated that there are meetings and negotiations with the Israelis taking place behind the stage. Those meetings aim at conveying a message that the Hebrew state is wrong in most of its policies toward Palestine.