Algiers, 14 November 2024 (SPS) - Participants at a conference titled "Western Sahara, the Last Colony in Africa," held in Algiers, called for the implementation of international legal decisions recognizing the Sahrawi people's right to freedom and independence through the organization of a referendum for self-determination.
During this meeting organized on Wednesday at the "Africa Space" as part of the cultural program of the 27th International Book Fair (SILA) in Algiers, the deputy representative of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) to Ethiopia and the African Union (AU), Mr. Ma el Aïnin Lekhal, emphasized that the question of Western Sahara is a central issue in the international system as the last decolonization issue in Africa.
He noted that Western colonialism has always sought to build its future while attempting to perpetuate the occupation and exploitation of the North African region, "being aware that North Africa is one people and that the region holds considerable natural resources and wealth."
The Sahrawi official lamented that "Morocco accepts to play the role of an agent in the North African region and refuses to allow the Sahrawi people to complete the decolonization process that has been accomplished in other countries on the continent, despite the AU and a significant number of international observers considering Western Sahara to be the last colony in Africa."
Referring to statements made by the French president in support of Morocco’s expansionist plan, the official emphasized that "France, as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and responsible for implementing resolutions of international legality, is supposed to convince the Makhzen regime to stop the massacres committed against the Sahrawi people since the 1970s."
"All human rights organizations and even the United Nations recognize that Morocco commits serious human rights violations against the Sahrawis in the occupied territories and that there is plundering of the resources of Western Sahara, not only by the Moroccan occupation but also by the European Union," he continued, recalling how the Polisario Front has taken the Council and the European Commission to European courts, which ruled against the plundering of Western Sahara's resources by European companies through agreements with the Makhzen regime.
He attributed the failure of the United Nations to end colonization in Western Sahara, despite efforts made since 1963, to "the lack of genuine political will from influential powers in the Security Council that prevent the application of international legality through their procrastination," even though the international community and the United Nations recognize the Sahrawi people's right to self-determination.
For his part, the president of the Algerian National Committee of Solidarity with the Sahrawi People (CNASPS), Saïd Ayachi, indicated that the founders of the Organization of African Unity (now the African Union) had "as their main objective, the decolonization of Africa," stressing that it is the primary responsibility of the AU to find a just and lasting solution to the conflict in Western Sahara, especially as the Union is the official partner of the UN in resolving this conflict.
He affirmed that Algeria's support for the Sahrawi people is part of its support for liberation causes around the world.