Botswana Patriotic Front leader Mephato Reggy Reatile has endorsed Morocco’s autonomy plan for the Sahara, breaking with his country’s historic alignment with the Polisario and signaling a broader shift in southern Africa’s approach to the territorial dispute.
Reatile said his new position was motivated by the latest UN Security Council resolution on the Sahara, which reaffirmed support for a negotiated political solution based on Morocco’s 2007 autonomy initiative.
“We do not have to inherit beliefs that no longer serve us,” he told Hespress EN, adding that “African politics must be progressive and forward-looking.”
The Botswana Patriotic Front, founded in 2019 by former president Ian Khama, is a small but influential opposition party with its main support base in Serowe, Khama’s home region.
Reatile said his position, shared in a press release, was widely applauded by political circles and that he plans to bring the issue to Botswana’s Parliament for discussion.
Botswana has historically recognized the SADR and maintained relations with the Polisario Front. But Rabat’s diplomatic outreach has expanded in southern Africa in recent years, bolstered by trade missions and partnerships in renewable energy and fertilizer production.
Botswana publicly supported Morocco’s return to the African Union in 2016, with officials from Botswana commenting on discussions with Moroccan counterparts about strengthening cooperation.
During a recent session of the African Parliament’s Peace and Security Committee, Moroccan lawmaker Hanaa Benkhair urged African institutions to align with the Security Council’s Resolution 2797 as “a decisive step toward a just and lasting settlement.”
Reatile’s remarks are part of a gradual regional trend as several southern African countries, including Zambia, Eswatini, and Malawi, which have voiced support for Morocco’s plan or opened consulates in Laayoune and Dakhla.
South Africa and Namibia remain backers of the Polisario Front, though recent parliamentary and party developments show emerging fractures and challenges to that stance.
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