New York, October 7, 2011 - Uganda has urged the United Nations to assume its full responsibility to complete the decolonization process in Western Sahara, during the session of the UN Fourth Committee, in charge of special political issues and decolonization in New York.
Deputy Permanent Representative of Uganda and Charge of Affaires a.i. to the United Nations, Ambassador ADONIA AYEBE, underlined that “for almost four decades, the people of Western Sahara have placed their faith in the United Nations to enable them exercise their inalienable right to self-determination in accordance with the Charter and relevant United nations resolutions. It is time the United nations assumed its full responsibility to complete the decolonization process in Western Sahara.”
“Uganda is convinced that only the Sahrawi people can and should decide their own future and destiny, without conditions of any kind,” added the Deputy Permanent Representative of Uganda.
He commended the efforts of the Secretary General’s Personal Envoy aimed at finding a lasting solution to the problem, regretting in spite of these efforts that the people of the Western Sahara have not yet had the opportunity of a free choice.
Deputy Permanent Representative of Uganda called on Morocco and Polisario to engage constructively in order to overcome the obstacles and reach a durable solution, welcoming the rounds of informal negotiations held so far and urging the parties to intensify their efforts to reach a lasting solution.
He expressed concerns about reports of violations of human rights in Western Sahara, reiterating call for concrete steps to be taken for monitoring and protection of human rights and about reports of the illegal exploitation of the resources of Stern Sahara. (SPS)
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