Nanterre (Ile-de-France), April 8, 2017 (SPS) - The Saharawi Coordinator with the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), M'hamed Kheddad, said Thursday in Nanterre that "the key to the solution to the conflict in Western Sahara is in Europe."
"The key to the solution is in Europe because the European Union has always considered that Western Sahara is part of Morocco," he said in a conference at the Faculty of Law of the University of Nanterre under the theme: "The question of Western Sahara before the court of the European Union."
After addressing the history of the conflict between the Polisario Front and the Kingdom of Morocco, which illegally occupied more than 40 years ago the Saharawi territory, M'hamed Kheddad said, in front of an audience of students and academics, that "the role of France, as a member of the UN Security Council, does not work for a political solution to this conflict, whereas international law advocates for the people of Western Sahara."
"France is the political, diplomatic and military supporter of Morocco which has decided to disregard all the decisions of international justice, which do not recognize Moroccan sovereignty in the territory of Western Sahara, and Security Council resolutions affirming and reaffirming the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination," he said, recalling that Western Sahara is one of the 17 non-self-governing territories on the agenda of the Committee on decolonization of the 24 and the Fourth Committee of the United Nations, thus eligible for self-determination.
For the member of the National Secretariat of the Polisario Front, the legitimate representative of the Saharawi people, "the European Union must be part of the solution and not the problem and change its position, highlighting the political line of the Sahrawis, which consists of the application of international law." (SPS)
062/090/TRA