JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - South Africa formally recognized the pro-independence government in the annexed Moroccan territory of Western Sahara, prompting Rabat to recall its ambassador from Pretoria in protest.
Officials in Rabat said the ambassador was recalled for consultations after South Africa, a traditional backer of independence for the Western Sahara, established diplomatic ties with the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.
South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma had expressed hope that there be no diplomatic "fall-out" from Rabat, adding that Pretoria had explained its decision to the Moroccan government.
"In implementation of the principles and objectives enshrined in the African Union and United Nations Charters, the Republic of South Africa and the Sahrawi decided to establish diplomatic relations at ambassadorial level as of Wednesday," Dlamini-Zuma was quoted by the SAPA news agency as saying.
But Rabat condemned the decision as "partial, surprising and inopportune", and voiced its "disappointment with the new foreign policy of the South African government," in a statement issued by the Moroccan foreign ministry.
Morocco annexed the Western Sahara region in 1975, triggering a dispute with Algeria which backed the Polisario Front movement seeking independence for the territory bordering the Atlantic between Mauritania and Morocco.
South Africa has been a traditional backer of the Polisario Front, the armed wing of the Sahrawi republic, which has been recognized by the Organisation of African Unity -- now the African Union -- but not the United Nations.
The African National Congress that swept to power in South Africa in 1994 has repeatedly pointed to the Western Sahara as the only region in Africa that had yet to be "liberated".
South African officials, speaking on condition of anonymity in Pretoria, said the decision to announce the formal recognition was prompted by the Western Sahara sending members to the opening of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) on Thursday.
"We could hardly have PAP members from a country we don't officially recognize," a foreign affairs department official told AFP.
"We told the Moroccans this last month. They knew of our intention," the official said.
Morocco's response was furious, however, with the foreign ministry accusing South Africa of undermining international peace efforts.
"This decision undermines the efforts of the United Nations to find a just, realistic solution that is acceptable to all the parties in this conflict," the ministry was quoted by Map news agency as saying.
Rabat charged that Pretoria's decision failed to take into account the "thousands of real Sahrawis, firmly attached to their Moroccan identities".
"Invoking the right self-determination, South African authorities... are recognising a so-called state that has no claim to sovereignty, undermining the will of the populations concerned," it charged.
South African foreign ministry officials had said they were bracing for a strong reaction from Morocco and possibly from its backers France and the United States.
These two governments applied pressure on former president Nelson Mandela to delay his written promise in 1994 to recognize the Sahrawi republic, saying it would complicate UN efforts to mediate a solution.
Six years later, Dlamini-Zuma officially informed Morocco she intended keeping Mandela's promise but it took in fact a decade to go ahead with the move.