Washington (USA) 11 December 2020 (SPS)- US Senator for Oklahoma and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Jim Inhofe, considered President’s Donal Trump statement on Western Sahara yesterday “shocking and deeply disappointing”.
In a Press release he published following Trump’s statement, Sen. Inhofe considered that Trump’s announcement “alleging Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara is shocking and deeply disappointing. I am saddened that the rights of the Western Saharan people have been traded away.”
“In 1966, as West Africa was being decolonized, the UN General Assembly agreed that a referendum on self-determination should be held for the benefit of the Sahrawi people. Since that time, the international community has had one clear, defined policy: Western Sahara deserves a referendum of self-determination to determine its own future,” he recalled.
He further stressed that “the United States has supported this policy for decades and has worked to accomplish a referendum of self-determination. Until today, this Administration had continued our long history, one that has remained consistent across administrations. We’re not alone in this position: the African Union, the United Nations, the International Court of Justice and the European Union have all agreed – the Sahrawi people have the right to decide their own future.”
“The president has been poorly advised by his team; he could have made this deal without trading the rights of a voiceless people,” Sen. Inhofe regretted.
“Today’s announcement does not change the United Nations or EU positions, nor the charter of the African Union, nor the opinion of the ICJ – a referendum must still happen. I urge these organizations to stand strong to support Western Sahara’s right to self-determination and am confident the U.S. will be able to return to the policy we’ve held since 1966,” he concluded. (SPS)
090/500/60 (SPS)