The South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa has on Tuesday made a vow of his government’s “unapologetic” support for the partially recognised Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) which is situated in the Western Sahara.
It had also been revealed that the disputed status of the Western Sahara which had been a former Spanish colony has also been considered asc a “non-self-governing territory” by the United Nations which has pitted Morocco against the Algeria-backed pro-independence Polisario Front since the 1970s.
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“We are concerned about the silence that persists in the world about the struggle for self-determination for the people of Western Sahara,” Ramaphosa said during a visit to Pretoria by Polisario leader Brahim Ghali.
“We find that other struggles are articulated at a higher decibel…and that is why as South Africans we are clear, we are firm and we are unapologetic in relation to our support for Sahrawi people.
“It’s a just struggle, it’s a noble struggle, it’s an honourable struggle, a people who want to determine their own destiny through self-determination,” said Ramaphosa, drawing a comparison with South Africa’s fight against the white minority apartheid regime.
The Polisario Front has also been campaigning for an independent state in Western Sahara, a vast stretch of phosphate-rich desert that was controlled by Spain between 1884 and 1975.
In another report, in lieu of the ongoing recession, South Africa’s central bank on Thursday has reportedly raised its benchmark interest rate which saw it going up by a hefty 0.75 percentage points again as it battles to control the inflation in the country.
The move is also coming on the heels of some new rate hikes which had been instigated by the United States Federal Reserve and some of the other central banks in Europe this week as countries scramble to tame galloping consumer prices.
The South African central bank’s decision would also be mirroring a similar 0.75-point hike in July that was the highest in a decade, brings the rate to 6.25 percent, close to its pre-Covid pandemic level.