Shaheed El Hafed, 21 April 2024 (SPS) - The representative of the Polisario Front to the United Nations and coordinator with MINURSO, member of the National Secretariat, Dr. Sidi Mohamed Omar, said that the basis for resolving the conflict is the exercise by the Sahrawi people of their inalienable right to self-determination and independence.
The representative of the Polisario Front to the UN said in an interview with the Algerian newspaper Al-Shorouk Online that the basis and means for resolving this conflict is to consult the Sahrawi people through a free referendum under the supervision of the United Nations.
Asked by the Algerian newspaper about the latest consultations on MINURSO, the Sahrawi diplomat said that what could be appreciated "is the emphasis of some member states during the session on the need to achieve a peaceful, just and lasting solution that guarantees the people of Western Sahara self-determination on the basis of the relevant resolutions of the United Nations and on the need for MINURSO to fully implement its mandate."
In this sense, he said that the Security Council "is required to take concrete measures and allow MINURSO to implement the mandate entrusted to it by the Council itself in its resolution 690 (1991) of April 29, 1991, which remains the same reason for the presence of the mission in Western Sahara."
The member of the National Secretariat also said that the Polisario Front simply asks the Security Council to create the propitious and necessary conditions to allow MINURSO to fully implement its mandate by organizing a referendum in which the Sahrawi people can freely and democratically exercise their right to self-determination and independence.
Dr. Sidi Mohamed Omar had renewed in a statement the willingness of the Sahrawi side to continue working with the United Nations and the African Union with the aim of reaching a peaceful, just and lasting solution to the conflict.
On the other hand, the President of the Republic and Secretary General of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali, has warned on several occasions that the Polisario Front will not participate in any peace process that does not respect the will of the Sahrawi people or respect the legal nature of the question of Western Sahara.
Under international law, Western Sahara remains a non-self-governing territory and Morocco an occupying state. Included since 1966 on the list of non-self-governing territories, and therefore eligible for the application of UN General Assembly Resolution 1514 on the granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples, Western Sahara is the last colony in Africa, occupied since 1975 by Morocco, supported by France.