Ghana suspends diplomatic relations with the Saharawi Republic
Jan. 7 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The leader of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) of Ghana, John Mahama, took office this Tuesday after winning the presidential elections in early December against his rival, the official candidate Mahamudu Bamuwia.
Mahama, who obtained 56.55 percent of the votes against the candidate of the government’s New Patriotic Party (NPP) – who managed to obtain 41.61 percent of the ballots – was sworn in at a ceremony held held in Independence Square in the capital, Accra.
“We will write a new chapter in the history of Ghana and it will be one full of hope, transparency and progress,” the former president between July 2012 and January 2017 stressed in a long speech, according to the ‘Daily Graphic’ newspaper. .
The opposition will be at the head of the African country along with his running mate, Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, who was Minister of Education during her first term and who now becomes the first woman to hold the position of vice president.
Mahama assumes the Presidency of Ghana at a time of deep economic crisis in the African country, which is awaiting a loan from the IMF to solve the situation. In 2022, the country achieved a $3 billion bailout and agreed with creditors to restructure other loans.
The new president has promised to address, among other challenges, unemployment, the fight against corruption, the environmental effects caused by illegal mining, as well as promoting good governance and a series of constitutional reforms to strengthen the country’s democracy.
During his previous mandate, there was criticism of his management and complaints of corruption against his circle and members of the Government in part caused his defeat in 2016 against the already former president Nana Akufo-Addo, who took power promising a series of changes to relaunch the economy of Ghana.
Akufo-Addo, in fact, managed to emerge victorious from a no-confidence motion in Parliament in December 2022 when the local currency, the cedi, collapsed. Despite the economic crisis, Ghana, the continent’s main gold producer and cocoa exporter, is a model of stability in a region shaken by coups d’état.
GHANA SUSPENDS RELATIONS WITH SADR
On the other hand, the Moroccan Foreign Ministry reported in a statement this Tuesday that Ghana has decided to suspend its diplomatic relations with the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), a territory it recognized in 1979.
Ghana has informed Rabat through diplomatic channels of this position, as well as the African Union and the United Nations. In this official document he has also expressed his support for Morocco’s efforts to “achieve a solution accepted by all parties.”
The former Spanish colony of Western Sahara was occupied by Morocco in 1975 despite the resistance of the Polisario Front, with whom it remained at war until 1991, when both parties signed a ceasefire with a view to holding a self-determination referendum. The differences over the preparation of the census and the inclusion or not of Moroccan settlers have prevented it from being called so far.
The latest setback for the Sahrawis was the support of the Spanish and French governments for the Moroccan autonomy plan, a change of position described as betrayal by the Polisario, which recalls that Spain is still ‘de jure’ the administrative power of Western Sahara.
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