Senegal opened on Monday a consulate general in Dakhla in Morocco’s Western Sahara, becoming the tenth country to do so in around a year.

Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita, meanwhile, said that the dispute over the Western Sahara cannot be resolved without Algeria.

“I agree with Algeria’s Foreign Minister (Sabri Boukadoum) that the solution to the Sahara issue will only be achieved through dialogue between the two real parties to the issue, which we have always called for, with Morocco and Algeria sitting at the dialogue table,” he stressed.

Bourita was present at the consulate inauguration, which was also attended by Minister of Foreign Affairs and Senegalese Abroad, Aissata Tall Sall.

Twenty-one countries have already opened consulates in Dakhla and Laayoune.

Djibouti, Gambia, Guinea, Liberia, Equatorial Guinea, Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau, Haiti and the Democratic Republic of Congo inaugurated diplomatic representations in Dakhla. The Union of the Comoros, Gabon, the Central African Republic, Burundi, Zambia, Sao Tome and Principe, Côte d’Ivoire, Eswatini, Jordan, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have opened consulates in Laayoune.

The United States has said it will soon open its consulate in Dakhla.

Speaking at a joint press briefing with Tall Sall, Bourita said this sovereign decision by Senegal reflects the “very old history of the friendship between the two countries, confirms the Moroccan identity of the Sahara and testifies, once again, to the steadfast position of the firm support of the brotherly country of Senegal for the territorial integrity of the Kingdom.”