Brussels, 3 April 2024 (SPS) - The team of the European Coordination for Solidarity with the Sahrawi People (ECOCO) pledged, during a meeting in Brussels, to activate collaborative work in accompanying the Sahrawi people in their struggle to achieve their right to self-determination and independence.
The ECOCO team held a meeting in the Belgian capital to discuss the most prominent European solidarity actions in the upcoming phase and to review the progress made since the 47th edition of the European Coordination Conference in December of last year in the Spanish city of Toledo.
The participants unanimously agreed on the necessity of activating joint work among all members to ensure positive outcomes in accompanying the Sahrawi people in their just struggle to achieve their inalienable right to self-determination and independence. This is particularly important following the outbreak of armed conflict after Morocco violated the ceasefire in November 2020.
During the meeting, Mr. Mansour Omar, a member of the National Secretariat of the Polisario Front responsible for Europe and European institutions, presented an overview of the latest developments in the Sahrawi issue and the situation in the occupied territories and refugee camps, especially regarding the recent developments in the United Nations political process and the work of the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General, in light of the fourth year of war following Morocco's violation of the ceasefire in November 2020.
The meeting also provided detailed summaries of the working groups' outputs for each of the four workshops comprising the European Coordination Conference. Sahrawi diplomats and European experts presented summaries of the achievements and the action plan for the coming months.
Mr. Ubbi Bashir Bushraya, the representative of the Polisario Front in Switzerland and the international organizations in Geneva, delivered a presentation highlighting the grave violations systematically committed by the Moroccan repressive apparatus against Sahrawi citizens in the occupied areas of Western Sahara.
He also discussed the mechanisms of the Human Rights Council and the need to intensify efforts for the international community to exert pressure on Morocco to compel it to respect human rights.
Regarding the natural resources issue, after listening to the latest developments in the legal battle presented by the Polisario representative to the United Kingdom, Mr. Sid Ahmed Brahim, and the person in charge of the natural resources workshop, Sonia Moreno, the meeting endorsed a set of steps in anticipation of the expected decision from the European Court. It called for "respecting the sovereignty of the Sahrawi people over their resources and wealth."
In the same context, it emphasized "the necessity for European institutions to respect the relevant judgments of the European Court of Justice, especially in light of the upcoming rulings related to the appeals filed by the Polisario Front against the Euro-Moroccan agreements that include the occupied territories of Western Sahara."