Addis Ababa, May 25, 2013 (SPS) - The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Namibia Ms. Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah said that her country “fully supports the urgent need for the African Union (AU) and the United Nations to adequately address the plight of the people of Western Sahara particularly those living in refugee camps,” reaffirming Namibia’s active solidarity with the Sahrawi people under the leadership of SADR, as quoted by New Era Newspaper.
Addressing the 23rd session of the AU Executive Council yesterday in Addis Ababa, Ms. Nandi-Ndaitwah said that Namibia “fully supports the call in the report for our organisation to focus its sustained political and diplomatic attention on the plight of the people of Western Sahara.”
“It is unacceptable that as Africa celebrates the 50th anniversary of the OAU/AU, the people of the Western Sahara continue to suffer under colonial subjugation by another African country, the Kingdom of Morocco,” she underlined.
Ms. Nandi-Ndatiwah went on saying that Namibia “welcomes the report of the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights, which graphically draws attention to the suffering of the people of Western Sahara under the colonial occupation of the Kingdom of Morocco.”
“Namibia fully endorses the proposals contained in that report and supports the recommendations of the Permanent Representatives Committee (PRC),” she stressed, adding that it is Namibia’s view that the question of Western Sahara “should be inscribed on the agenda of the AU as a standing item, until a permanent solution is found to the Sahrawi question.”
Namibian Foreign Minister called on the African Union to exert political and diplomatic pressure on the government of the Kingdom of Morocco to allow the implementation of the UN Security Council and General Assembly resolutions to allow the people of Western Sahara to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination.
“We are deeply disappointed that the efforts to implement the UN Plan and Referendum for Western Sahara have been frustrated by the occupying power, the Kingdom of Morocco,” she regretted.
She noted that in the context of the 50th anniversary of the OAU/AU, Namibia calls on the Kingdom of Morocco to allow the holding of an immediate referendum in order to complete the decolonisation process of the continent.
“The right to self-determination is indivisible and the right to independence of all the peoples under colonial occupation is inalienable. This is universally recognised under the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1514 of 1960,” she confirmed.
Head of Namibia’s diplomacy indicated that Africa “should provide leadership and resolve in assisting the people of Western Sahara to attain their freedom and independence,” adding that Africa “should remain faithful to the founding principles of this organization.”
Namibia, she said, also supports the call on the Security Council to include a human rights and humanitarian component in the mandate of the UN Mission in Western Sahara, MINURSO.
Ms. Nandi-Ndaitwah further denounced colonialism and oppression as unacceptable, whether imposed by an African country or any other country. (SPS)
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