New York (United Nations), 31 May 2024 (SPS) - The Polisario Front's representative to the UN and coordinator with MINURSO, Sidi Mohamed Omar, stated that the basis of the solution to the Western Sahara conflict lies in the Sahrawi people's exercise of its inalienable right to self-determination and independence.
"The basis of the solution lies in the Sahrawi people's exercise of its inalienable right to self-determination and independence. The solution only concerns the Sahrawi people as the holders of the right to self-determination. The means of application is to consult the Sahrawi people through a free and fair referendum under international supervision," said the coordinator with the United Nations Mission for the Organization of a Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) to the Spanish digital newspaper "Nueva Revolucion".
"The Security Council must have the necessary political will to use all the diplomatic and other instruments at its disposal so that MINURSO can fully carry out its mandate by organizing a referendum in which the Sahrawi people exercise their inalienable right to self-determination and independence," said the Sahrawi diplomat.
To this end, Sidi Mohamed Omar condemned MINURSO's silence regarding the colonial practices and serious and continuous human rights violations perpetrated by Morocco against the Sahrawis in the occupied territories, in addition to the restrictions imposed by the occupation authorities that undermine the international character of the UN mission, as well as its credibility and impartiality as a UN peacekeeping operation.
For Sidi Omar, more than 30 years after its creation and deployment in the territory, MINURSO has been unable not only to fulfill its mandate, but also to protect the human rights of the Sahrawis in the occupied territories, as it is not equipped with a human rights mechanism, unlike other UN peacekeeping missions.
"It is imperative that the Security Council include a human rights mechanism in MINURSO's mandate, as it is unacceptable for the UN mission to remain an exception, at a time when the promotion and protection of human rights are becoming a priority in all UN peacekeeping operations," the Sahrawi diplomat emphasized.
Regarding the current state of the negotiations between the two parties to the conflict (Morocco and the Polisario Front), Sidi Omar explained that Morocco's refusal to return to the negotiating table under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General, without preconditions and in good faith, clearly shows that Rabat has no political will to move towards a peaceful, just and lasting solution to the decolonization of Western Sahara.
However, despite the very clear legal status of Western Sahara in terms of decolonization, the Sahrawi official deplored the position of certain countries that continue to encourage Morocco to continue illegally occupying parts of the Sahrawi territory and preventing the Sahrawi people from exercising its inalienable right to self-determination and independence.
"These countries bear the responsibility for the current deadlock in the peace process in Western Sahara and the prolonged suffering of the Sahrawi people," he stressed.
Thus, he reiterated his call to the competent UN bodies to have the necessary political will and determination to carry out the decolonization process of Western Sahara by creating the necessary conditions for the Sahrawi people to freely and democratically exercise its inalienable right to self-determination and independence through a referendum.