Occupied El Aaiun, 10 September 2023 (SPS) - Members of the Association for Surveillance of Wealth and Environmental Protection in Western Sahara informed the Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for Western Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, during his visit to the occupied territories of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), about the various violations committed by the Moroccan occupation against the rights of the Sahrawi people, as well as the plundering of their natural resources.
Mr. Staffan de Mistura was informed of these violations during a meeting with the members of the association's executive office, during his visit to the occupied cities of El Aaiun and Dakhla.
In occupied El Aaiun, the association presented a detailed report to the UN's Personal Envoy, illustrating through figures and statistics the plundering of natural resources in the territories of Western Sahara by the Moroccan occupying state, in flagrant violation of the decisions of international courts, including the decisions of the European Court which "unequivocally confirm that the Kingdom of Morocco has no right to the wealth of these territories, that the Sahrawi people are their true owners, and that their political and legal representative is the Polisario Front".
On this occasion, association member Lahcen Dalil emphasized "the inaction and laxity of the UN in fulfilling its role" in the establishment of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).
The association members also noted "the gravity of the human rights situation in the territory and the deterioration it has reached," especially after the resumption of armed struggle on November 13, 2020, citing what Sahrawi citizens and human rights activists have endured during their participation in a peaceful sit-in parallel to de Mistura's visit, as well as the security and military siege imposed on the cities of Western Sahara since the announcement of this visit.
On his part, Mohamed Salem Fahim explained, during his meeting with de Mistura in the occupied city of Dakhla, the "deplorable" socio-economic situation affecting the Sahrawi people, which has led to the exodus of young people to the buffer zone of Guerguerate, which is under military and security blockade in order to prevent them from continuing their march towards the state of Mauritania, according to the association's statement.
062/T