Britain’s backing of Morocco’s autonomy plan for Western Sahara creates a whole new playing field

This week British Foreign Minister David Lammy followed up with a statement in the House of Commons, where he again laid out Britain’s position on Morocco’s autonomy plan, calling it the “the most credible, viable, and pragmatic basis for resolving the dispute.” The UK has joined other European countries and the U.S. of course, in endorsing Morocco's position in the Western Sahara conflict, and it looks increasingly like Algeria and the independence-seeking Polisario are losing out.

The UK announced the news during foreign secretary David Lammy’s visit to Rabat, last weekend, where he met with his Moroccan counterpart Nasser Bourita. I have to say the dexterity and diplomatic drive shown by Bourita is incredibly impressive. Over 113 countries now support Morocco's autonomy plan and its not just across Europe either.  Morocco's claim is also endorsed across Africa. Only a few days ago, Kenya said it started supporting Rabat's autonomy plan, as did Ghana.

It is always interesting to see how the international press reports these historic decisions. The BBC was particularly pointed in its approach suggesting that the UK’s support was part of a deal that will secure lucrative investment projects in the 2030 men's football World Cup. I know as a Brit we are slightly obsessed by football but really, is this all it comes down to? The idea that business is not part of diplomacy is naïve to say the least. What the BBC failed to report was the rise of Morocco’s diplomatic clout, its emergence as a gateway not just to the Maghreb but the entire African continent. In fact, Deutsche Welle, the German broadcaster had this to say: “the British step could be considered another sign of Morocco's growing global significance.”

After Bourita and Lammy’s meeting in Rabat, they released a joint statement saying that the two countries are “determined to build on their exceptional shared history and deepen cooperation in all areas.”

This is how Moroccan media summed up the statement, saying this new partnership between the UK and Morocco “will focus on security and defense, trade and investment, as well as water, climate, energy transition, health, education, scientific research and innovation, human rights, and cultural and sports exchanges.”

There we go, sports exchanges! Finally, the BBC has its headline.

The BBC didn’t mention any of the other areas of future collaboration but instead fixated a little on Lammy having signed a deal on critical infrastructure projects for the World Cup, which Morocco is hosting alongside Spain and Portugal in 2030. The deal would allow "British businesses to score big on football's biggest stage", Lammy said.

Scoring big is not such a bad thing, is it? After all some of the most ambitious clean energy projects are already coming from the existing collaboration such as Xlink’s joint Morocco-UK Power Project, that will supply millions of British homes with renewable energy generated in North Africa and transported via 4,000km of subsea cable. Football metaphors aside, yes this last week has been a gamechanger!

*Kieran Baker is an Emmy award winning journalist who has started up various networks including Al Jazeera English, Bloomberg TV Africa and TRT World.