Morocco has not submitted a formal request to join the BRICS bloc and was visibly absent from the BRICS 2023 summit in Johannesburg, new reports indicate.
Referring to an unnamed diplomatic source, the MAP (Maghreb Arab Press) news agency refuted a statement made by South Africa’s foreign minister, Anil Sooklal, earlier in August 2023. Sooklal had mentioned that Morocco was among the nations expressing interest in joining the BRICS bloc.
“South Africa allowed itself to speak about Morocco’s ties with the BRICS without prior consultation,” it said.
MAP reported that there was no intention to offer a positive response to the invitation or to engage in the meeting at any level emphasizing that the summit was organized unilaterally by the South African government.
“South Africa has consistently exhibited primary antagonism towards the Kingdom and has consistently adopted adverse and entrenched stances concerning the Moroccan Sahara issue,” the source said.
“Pretoria has therefore persistently undertaken actions that are detrimental to Morocco’s paramount interests, both on a national level and within the African Union.”
Even though Morocco upholds bilateral relations with the other member countries of BRICS and continues to emphasize its dedication to multilateralism, it has not formally pursued membership. This position was reaffirmed by the source within the ministry.
The BRICS group of countries is composed of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, which hosted the 2023 BRICS summit in Johannesburg,. The prospective expansion of the group was a topic of discussion during the summit, as South Africa has mentioned that several countries have indicated interest in joining. 6 countries, including Ethiopia and Egypt were invited to join BRICS following the summit.
“It had thus become clear that South Africa was going to hijack this event from its nature and purpose, to serve a hidden agenda,” said the same source, noting that Morocco consequently ruled out, from the outset, any favorable reaction to the South African invitation.
“South Africa has in fact always shown a primary hostility towards Morocco and has systematically taken negative and dogmatic positions on the Moroccan Sahara issue.”
South Africa’s diplomatic support for the Algeria-backed Polisario front, which seeks to establish an independent state in Western Sahara, a territory Morocco considers as its own, has strained relations between the two countries.
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