Bir-Lehlou (Liberated Territories), March 10, 2018 (SPS) – President of the Republic, Secretary-General of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali, has urged the African Union (AU) to call upon the European Union (EU) member states to put into effect the ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) regarding the partnership agreement in the fisheries sector (the Fisheries Agreement) concluded between the European Union and Morocco in 2006.
“The ruling issued on 27 February 2018 by the CJEU complements the AU Legal Opinion issued in October 2015, which found that any exploration and exploitation of natural resources in Western Sahara by Morocco is illegal. We therefore urge the AU to call upon EU member states to enforce the judgement of the CJEU in order to guarantee the end of natural resource plunder on the African continent,” said the President of the Republic in a letter to H.E. Mr. Paul Kagame, Chairperson of the African Union.
The President of the Republic recalled the CJEU ruled that the EU-Morocco Fisheries Agreement is “not applicable to Western Sahara and to its adjacent waters.”
“The CJEU holds that, taking account of the fact that the territory of Western Sahara does not form part of the territory of the Kingdom of Morocco; the waters adjacent to the territory of Western Sahara are not part of the Moroccan fishing zone referred to in the Fisheries Agreement,” he added.
“Excellency, the continuation of the occupation of one African country by another African country, both AU Member States, contravenes two fundamental principles of the AU—namely the principle of self-determination and respect for the inviolability of borders inherited from colonial powers. A solution to the crisis will go a long way in enhancing Africa’s unity and integration and upholding the values which made the contemporary history of the continent,” concluded the letter of the President of the Republic. (SPS)
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