South African President Cyril Ramaphosa chaired a meeting of the ANC on Monday, during which he publicly commented for the first time on the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 2797 on Western Sahara, passed on October 31. «We must be concerned that the struggle of the people of Western Sahara for self-determination has been set back by the recent UN Security Council resolution which strongly endorsed Morocco's autonomy plan as the 'most feasible solution', shifting away from past UN positions on a referendum on self-determination», he wrote on social media. His remarks contrast sharply with those of Algeria. On November 2, Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf welcomed the resolution, claiming that Morocco had failed to impose its views on Security Council members, a position he later repeated in the Algerian press. South Africa had already expressed its «disappointment» with the adoption of Resolution 2797 on November 1, even before Algeria reacted. Pretoria denounced the fact that the text «exclusively favors the Moroccan plan as a basis for negotiations, while disregarding self-determination and Sahrawi proposals». Since 2004, South Africa has recognized the «Sahrawi Republic» and remains one of the Polisario Front's most consistent allies on the African and international stage.
