Algiers, 19 June 2021 (SPS) - The university professor and director of the Center for Western Sahara Studies at the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain), Carlos Ruiz Miguela, returned to the decision of former U.S. President, Donald Trump, about the alleged "sovereignty of Morocco over Western Sahara," saying that this decision "undermines peace in North Africa."
"It is necessary to recall the history and the UN international law," after the decision of former U.S. President Donald Trump to "recognize" the "sovereignty" of Morocco over Western Sahara, said Carlos Ruiz Miguel, quoted Saturday by the newspaper Le Soir D'Algérie.
The decision of Trump to "recognize the sovereignty" of Morocco over the Western Sahara, which is "contrary to international law," "undermines peace in North Africa," said Carlos Ruiz Miguel.
The professor recalled that Spain signed "a "protectorate" agreement with the independent tribes of Western Sahara in 1884, nearly 30 years before it submitted with France, Morocco to a protectorate in 1912. After the latter's independence in 1956, its aggressive foreign policy to build "Greater Morocco" sought to annex the Western Sahara, Mauritania, northwest Mali, western Algeria and the Spanish territories of North Africa.
After failing, the Kingdom focused all its energy on taking possession of the Western Sahara," also stating that it was part of its "territorial integrity" and that the decolonization of the territory, then administered by Spain, should not be done through a referendum on self-determination, but by "returning" it to Morocco so that it could "reclaim" it," added Carlos Ruiz Miguel.
According to him, "to dispel doubts, the UN asked the International Criminal Court of Justice for an advisory opinion which was issued on October 16, 1975, indicating that Morocco has never had sovereignty over Western Sahara".
The court concluded that "the decolonization of Western Sahara should be achieved "through the application of the principle of self-determination through the free and genuine expression of the will of the people of the territory. The UN General Assembly then demanded a referendum on self-determination, he concluded. (SPS)
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