Shaheed El-Hafed (refugee camps), 23 October 2024 (SPS) - Lawyer Emmanuel Devers, a member of the collective of lawyers who pleaded before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in the case of the despoliation of Western Sahara's natural resources, affirmed that “the CJEU’s decision is a gain, new opportunity and a stinging response to the Moroccan occupier's propaganda.”
Speaking at the end of the audience granted to him by the President of the Republic, Secretary General of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali, Devers said “the CJEU’s decision is an achievement, a new opportunity and a stinging response to the Moroccan occupier's propaganda, claiming that this case was closed, but also to its (occupier's) allies within the EU, led by France and Spain, which have adopted unilateral positions contrary to international law and European law.”
“The CJEU magistrates clearly expressed that Western Sahara and the Kingdom of Morocco are distinct countries. Therefore, Morocco has no sovereignty over Western Sahara.”
Treating the Western Sahara as a non-self-governing territory is a decolonization issue,” he added.
“I presented to the Sahrawi President a report on the progress of the case before the CJEU since its beginning, and on the important results obtained in favour of the Sahrawi people through these rulings, notably the position of the Sahrawi people on a more solid basis regarding their right to self-determination and sovereignty over natural resources, as well as the legitimacy of the Polisario Front to represent them before European courts and plead on their behalf.”