New York, April 27, 2015 (SPS) - African countries posed the participation of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) as a prerequisite for the holding of the United Nations Conference on Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone (NWFZ) last Friday, Saharawi's Foreign Affairs ministry said Saturday in a statement.
"The conference which was scheduled for Friday at the United Nations headquarters, in New York, has been suspended following African Union countries' opposition to Morocco's attempt to undermine the conference's works in order to prevent the participation of SADR."
Unlike the false news published by Moroccan media, "the conference didn't take place due to African Union member states' firm position, which stressed that SADR's participation was a not-negotiable precondition for the holding of the conference."
African countries' defending of Saharawi Republic's full right to take part in the conference is compatible with the standards and principles governing the international meeting.
"If the SADR does not participate, there will be no conference today, nor tomorrow," the statement underlined.
The Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic is a member of the treaty that carries the name of the South-African town Pelindaba, which establishes Africa as a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone.
The SADR signed the treaty on 20 June 2006.
The treaty was ratified by Saharawi Parliament on the 27 November 2011 and the ratification was submitted on 27 January 2014. (SPS)
062/090/700