Lima (Peru), October 5, 2015 (SPS) The Peruvian Council of Solidarity with the Saharawi people (COPESA - in Spanish) called on the Peruvian government to restore diplomatic relations with the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), unjustly frozen in 1996, in a statement released Monday.
COPESA urged Peru to restore diplomatic relations with the SADR under the government plan Gana Peru, (Great Nationalist Alliance), unjustly suspended without explanation in 1996, in the era of former president Alberto Fujimori (1995-2006), currently in prison.
COPESA stressed that the restoration of relations with the Saharawi people "falls within the principles of Peru whose foreign policy is characterized by defending the values, respect for international law and the principle of self-determination of peoples.
But it is above all, added the Council, to "implement the commitment of President Ollanta Humala to revisit the issue of the freezing of diplomatic relations between the two countries."
Peru recognized the SADR on August 16, 1984, during the tenure of President Fernando Belaunde. The first Saharawi Ambassador presented his credentials two years later, in 1986, during the presidency of Alan Garcia.
Recently, a Peruvian mission visited the Sahrawi refugee camps near Tindouf and met with the Saharawi president, Mohamed Abdelaziz, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mohamed Salem Ould Salek.
Back in the Peruvian capital, the delegation presented a report favorable to the restoration of diplomatic relations, but the decision is, however, for President Ollanta Humala, including that related to humanitarian assistance, the statement added.
COPESA also welcomed the appointment of the Saharawi diplomat, Ali Salem Sidi Zein, as the first resident ambassador in Quito, Ecuador.
Ali Salem had spent five years in Peru as Ambassador in special mission. The diplomat had "a fruitful work for Peru-Sahrawi friendship", noted COPESA. (SPS)
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