The episode of the meeting this week in Tokyo on development in Africa (TICAD) shows how the Polisario has become hemmed in at the diplomatic level, forcing Algeria to resort to every manoeuver imaginable to sneak in the separatist movement in international meetings, despite the rejection of host countries, as Japan did on Friday.
Members of the Polisario managed to enter Japan thanks to Algerian passports and were able to access the ministerial meeting with the badges of the Japan African Union Commission (AU), since the TICAD is held as a Japan-AU bilateral summit.
Deeming the Polisario’s intrusion illegal, since the Sahara Republic (SADR) self-proclaimed by the separatist movement, is not recognized by Japan or any major capital in the world, the Moroccan delegation withdrew from the meeting.
For his part, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono was keen on ensuring the success of the meeting, embodying an important aspect of Japan’s cooperation with Africa at a time competition with China is intensifying.
So, Taro Kono addressed in a plenary session those responsible for the manoeuvers in harsh words that literally appalled the Polisario members and Algerian diplomats.
“I would like to announce that even if this group pretends to be a state, Japan does not recognize it, and its presence in this hall does not mean that Japan recognizes it in anyway implicitly or explicitly,” the Japanese Foreign Minister said.
