Ivory Coast does not accept being told what to do in international relations and its decision to open a consulate general in Laayoune is a “sovereign” act and “consistent with its interests and values,” said Tuesday its Minister of African Integration and Ivorians Abroad, Ally Coulibaly.
“In foreign policy, as in other areas, we are careful not to give moral lessons, just as we do not want to be imposed on what we should or should not do. This is a cardinal principle that we hold dear,” Coulibaly insisted during a joint press briefing with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Living Abroad, Nasser Bourita.
The decision to open a consulate in Laayoune “is a decision that we fully assume because it falls under our sovereignty, and because it is consistent with our interests and our values,” he added during the press briefing held after the inauguration of this diplomatic representation, the 5th to be opened in Laayoune after those of the Union of the Comoros, the Central African Republic, Gabon and Sao Tome and Principe.
The Ivorian minister noted that this act “should not give a rise to any controversy whatsoever”, since Ivory Coast “has never hidden” of its support for the Moroccan Sahara.
“Opening a consulate in this strategic region with an undeniable international vocation is therefore part of the normal order of things,” he said before reiterating his country’s firm support for the autonomy plan proposed by Morocco, which he considers “serious and credible.”
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