The government of Ghana recognised the Sahara Arab Democratic Republic led by the Polisario Front in 1979. Since then, the government and people of Ghana have joined progressive forces in the world to mount pressure on the Kingdom of Morocco to recognise the rights of the people of Western Sahara to self- determination.

Even though Morocco has not halted the illegal occupation of the territory of Western Sahara, the Government of Ghana was reported to have suspended relations with the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic on January 6, 2024.

The decision is contemptuous of the judgment of the African Court on Human and Peoples Rights delivered on September 22, 2022. In the historic judgment, the Court upheld the rights of the people of Western Sahara to self -determination guaranteed by article 20 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights.

The Court also noted that, in view of the fact that part of the SADR’s territory was still under occupation by Morocco, there was no question that State Parties to the Charter have an obligation, individually and collectively, towards the people of SADR to protect their right to self-determination, particularly, by providing assistance in their struggle for freedom and by not recognising Morocco’s occupation and any human rights violation that might have resulted from such occupation.

The case was filed by Mr. Bernard Mornah, a national of the Republic of Ghana and the Chairman of the Convention of People’s Party (CPP). The Applicant had filed the case against eight (8) State Parties to the Protocol, that is, the Republic of Benin, Burkina Faso, Republic of Cote d’Ivoire, Republic of Ghana, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Tanzania, Republic of Tunisia (the Respondent States). Our law firm handled the case pro bono for the Applicant in solidarity with the colonised people of Western Sahara.

The Respondents were the member states of the African Union that had complied with article 34(6) of the Protocol of the establishment of the African Court on Human and Peoples Rights which allows individuals and NGOs to access the African Court. Mr. Bernard Mornah (the Applicant) The arguments of Ghana and other Respondents canvassed in favour of the Kingdom of Morocco were rejected by the African Court.

The Court reiterated that the Republic of Ghana and other Respondent States, and indeed, all State Parties to the African Charter and the Protocol, as well as all Member States of the AU, have the responsibility under international law, to find a permanent solution to the occupation and to ensure the enjoyment of the right to self-determination of the people of Western Sahara and not to do anything that would give recognition to such occupation as lawful ori impede their enjoyment of this right.

By suspending relations with the leadership of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Party on the ground of the “good-faith efforts made by the Kingdom of Morocco to reach a solution accepted by all parties", the Government of Ghana has treated the valid and subsisting judgment of the African Court with absolute contempt.

We, therefore, urge the new John Mahama administration to reverse the contemptuous decision taken on the eve of the departure of the last regime. In the words of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the a leading light of the independence movement in Africa: “The independence of Ghana is meaningless until it is linked to the total liberation of Africa.”
The independence of SADR will be a historical continuation of that total liberation envisioned by Nkrumah and other heroes of genuine freedom of Africa.