The Swedish government has officially announced Friday that it would not recognize the so-called Sahrawi Republic “SADR” as an independent state.
Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said in a statement released Friday that Sweden has no intention to recognize the Western Sahara as a State and that it supports the ongoing UN-led negotiations on the Sahara issue.
The decision dealt a serious blow to the Polisario leaders and their Algerian mentors who bet big to snatch the recognition of their fanciful republic by the Swedish government, hoping to pave the way for the SADR recognition by other Scandinavian countries.
“The criteria required by the international law to recognize Western Sahara are not fulfilled”, Mrs. Wallström said in her statement.
The Social-Democrat Swedish Government wanted, through this decision, to restore normal political and economic relations with Morocco that it considers as “an influential country in the Arab world.”
By backtracking on the recognition of the Sahrawi entity, Sweden is putting an end to a long period of tension with the Kingdom of Morocco, which is sure as to the legitimacy of its national cause and which is not ready to make any further concessions on its territorial integrity, after it offered broad autonomy as a political settlement of the Western Sahara conflict.