New York, June 16, 2012 (SPS) - “The question of Western Sahara must be resolved through the exercise of the right to self-determination for the Saharawi people,” said Friday Mr. Ahmed Bukhari, Polisario Front’s Representative to the United Nations, in a speech before the Decolonization Committee of the UN in New York, as reported by Sahrawi diplomats.
“The question of Western Sahara must be resolved through the exercise of the right to self-determination for the Saharawi people, as required by resolutions of the General Assembly and Advisory Opinion of International Court of Justice,” underlined Mr. Boukhari.
He also spoke about the state of human rights in occupied Western Sahara, saying “Moroccan prisons were full of the Saharawi political prisoners and dozens of the Saharawis, who have been arrested during the treacherous attack by the Moroccan occupying forces on the protest camp of Gdeim Izik, still awaiting military trails, and thus reflects nature of the Moroccan colonial presence in the Territory.”
The POLISAIO Representative said that the Moroccan repression in Western Sahara is now beyond the horror, as evidenced by the recent case of the young Saharawi Hamdi Tarfawi, known for his action and defense of the rights of the Saharawi people to self-determination and independence, who disappeared on May 18 to appear then fragmented body dumped outside the occupied city of El Aaiun on May 29.
As well, the case of the young Saharawi Said Dambar, murdered by a Moroccan police on 21 December 2010 of a gunshot and that last week, and against the advice of his family, and contrary to the laws and religious practices, the Moroccan authorities forced his funeral.
These dramatic circumstances, says Ahmed Bukhari, have led many times to the European Parliament and human rights organizations like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch to ask the Security Council to authorize the MINURSO to include a mechanism to monitor and report on the situation of human rights waiting for just lasting solution to the question of Western Sahara.”
These developments on the question of Western Sahara, says Ahmed Bukhari, must be at the heart of the Committee’s interests and within its interests and powers as long as the decolonization of Western Sahara has not yet been completed.
He appealed to the Committee to hold a special meeting on Western Sahara and invite Member States of the United Nations and the African Union and as well as credible experts for discussion in order to restore the authority and credibility of the Committee, calling it to re-visit the territory of Western Sahara “to assess the situation and developments in the field that took place after the visit it had made in May 1975.”
Saharawi Diplomat indicated that France’s opposition in the Security Council, however, had prevented a positive response to that request, and thus causes double standards with regard to the Saharawi cause.
He therefore denounced the recent decision taken by Morocco to withdraw the confidence from Christopher Ross reflects a flippant and irresponsible attitude in seeking a peaceful, just and lasting solution to the conflict of Western Sahara.
Mr. Boukhari confirmed, at the end of his speech, that the POLSARIO Front, the partner in the decolonization of Africa’s last colony along with Morocco, is totally ready to support and assist work of the Committee. (SPS)
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