New York (United Nations), 19 February 2022 (SPS) – Member of the National Secretariat, Representative of the Frente POLISARIO at the United Nations and Coordinator with MINURSO, Dr Sidi Mohamed Omar, addressed today a letter to the UN Secretary-General and to the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation and current President of the Security Council.
In the letter, Dr Sidi Omar expressed the strong condemnation of the Sahrawi authorities of the continued criminal acts perpetrated by the occupying state of Morocco against Sahrawi civilians in the Occupied Western Sahara, one of the last chapters of which was the heinous assassination of Sahrawi citizen Habib Aghrichi in the occupied city of Dajla.
The letter once again deplored the silence of the UN Secretariat and the Security Council in the face of the crimes perpetrated against Sahrawi civilians and human rights activists. It reiterated that talking about relaunching the peace process is meaningless at a time when Sahrawi civilians and human rights activists are subjected to unspeakable crimes and atrocities while the occupying state of Morocco continues to impose its reign of terror on the Sahrawi Occupied Territories as the United Nations maintains its deafening and unjustified silence.
The following is the full text of the letter as received by SPS:
H.E. Mr António Guterres
Secretary-General of the United Nations
United Nations, New York
Cc: H.E. Mr Vassily Nebenzia
Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations
President of the Security Council
New York, 19 February 2022
Your Excellency,
Upon instructions from my Authorities, I am writing to you again with great urgency and concern to draw your attention and the attention of the members of the Security Council to the continued criminal acts carried out by the occupying state of Morocco against Sahrawi civilians in the Sahrawi Territories under the Moroccan illegal military occupation.
As we have already alerted the UN Secretariat and the Security Council, at the time of writing, mass popular demonstrations are taking place in the occupied city of Dajla to denounce the heinous assassination of the Sahrawi citizen Habib Aghrichi and the atrocious crimes to which Sahrawi civilians of all ages are subjected daily at the hands of various repressive agencies and the thugs sponsored by the occupying state of Morocco.
Hundreds of Sahrawi citizens also took to the streets in major Sahrawi occupied cities to express their solidarity with the family of Habib Aghrichi and to voice their strong rejection of the Moroccan occupation and its colonial practices in the Sahrawi Occupied Territories.
The Frente POLISARIO once again condemns in the strongest possible terms the heinous crime targeting Sahrawi citizen Habib Aghrichi and the pressure exerted by the authorities of the occupying state of Morocco on the family of the victim to prevent them from demanding an investigation into the circumstances of the disappearance of their son and holding to account the perpetrators after the emergence of solid evidence revealing the involvement of the agents of the occupying state and their attempts to conceal the incriminating evidence to cover up their gruesome crime.
The Frente POLISARIO once again deplores the silence of the UN Secretariat and the Security Council in the face of the crimes perpetrated against Sahrawi civilians and human rights activists by the occupying state of Morocco and its continued violations of the rules of international law and international humanitarian law in the Occupied Western Sahara in full view of the United Nations and its Mission in the Territory.
As has been underscored in previous communications, the United Nations and its relevant organs have a special responsibility towards the people of Western Sahara as a territory subject to a decolonisation process. The United Nations General Assembly has been emphasising every year in its successive resolutions this responsibility, which involves, among other things, the responsibility of protecting Sahrawi civilians and ensuring their physical and moral integrity.
Therefore, we call upon you once again and urgently to operationalise the legal and moral responsibility of the United Nations towards the Sahrawi people, particularly Sahrawi civilians living in the Territories under the illegal Moroccan occupation. This involves deploying international protection mechanisms and taking practical measures to ensure their safety and security, including the establishment of an independent and permanent UN mechanism for the protection and regular reporting on the human rights in Occupied Western Sahara to the relevant United Nations bodies.
We also call upon you, Mr Secretary-General, to act urgently to end the terror and reprisals carried out by the occupying state of Morocco against Sahrawi civilians and human rights activists, including Sultana Sid Brahim Jaya and her family. We urgently call upon you again to ensure the immediate and unconditional release of Sahrawi political prisoners, including Gdeim Izik Group, who are being held in the prisons of the occupying state.
In concluding, the Frente POLISARIO reiterates that talking about relaunching the peace process is meaningless at a time when Sahrawi civilians and human rights activists are subjected to unspeakable crimes and atrocities while the occupying state of Morocco continues to impose its reign of terror on the Sahrawi Occupied Territories as the United Nations maintains its deafening and unjustified silence.
Please accept, Your Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.
Dr Sidi M. Omar
Ambassador
Representative of the Frente POLISARIO at the United Nations
Coordinator with MINURSO. (SPS)