Disputes between Morocco and South Africa after Cape Town seized a phosphate ship

Disputes between Morocco and South Africa after Cape Town seized a phosphate ship

The relations between Morocco and South Africa have entered into a new crisis after a local court ordered the arrest of a Moroccan steamer carrying Marshall Islands flag loaded with 50,000 tons of phosphate on its way to a port in New Zealand early last month.

Al-Hayat sources said that the seizure of the Moroccan ship Chery Plessum in the Gulf of Alcoa and the approval of the South African government to present the case to the Port Elizabeth Court is "a violation of international law and international navigation" and "the violation of international trade, The 1952 Brussels Convention on Commercial Navigation. "

The group «the Office of the Phosphate» filed by the Court of South Africa to challenge the decision to intercept the phosphate ship, which sailed from the port of Laayoune in the direction of the Cape of Good Hope in May.

"The proceeds of phosphate benefit the inhabitants of the southern provinces for decades, and there is no reason to ask a regional-political problem before the United Nations before courts that are not competent, and in a third country Not related to the issues of North African conflicts (Algeria - Morocco) ".

Rabat has won a similar case this month after a court in Panama decided to release a Moroccan ship loaded with phosphate on its way from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.

The Panamanian court confirmed that it was not competent in such disputes and disputes of purely political nature.

Rabat expressed its satisfaction with the decision of the Panama Court and considered it fair and respectful of international law.

"The South African court's decision should have been consistent with the Panamanian court's decision in a similar case, because the matter is linked to an international negotiation process," said government spokesman Mustapha al-Khaliji.

He pointed out that «Morocco will deal with the required resolution of the decision of the South African Court, which is hostile to Morocco because of the position on the Sahara issue, and return to the African regular, where Moroccan companies invested about $ 2.2 billion in recent years».

The ship's case conceals leadership differences between Rabat and Pretoria in Africa over who the investment is.

The sources pointed out that South Africa is exploiting the Polisario Front, which opposes Morocco's unity over its Saharan territories, to influence Moroccan maritime trade in African waters, including intercepting a phosphate-laden ship to pressure Rabat, which in recent months has achieved diplomatic success in the continent. After the absence of 32 years, and asked to join the Economic Community of West Africa, which includes 15 countries on the Atlantic Ocean, and the launch of large projects, including gas pipeline between Nigeria and Morocco to the Mediterranean.

The Office of the Sharif Phosphate that it is carrying out economic development projects in the desert regions worth more than two billion dollars to improve Level of services and development of local competencies.