New York (United Nations) 15 October 2022 (SPS)- Botswana Permanent Representative to the UN, Amb. Collen V. Kelapile, affirmed that his country’s firm support to the Saharawi people stems from Botswana’s strong belief in the right of peoples’ to self-deterination, in his statement Friday before the UN 4th Committee on decolonization.
Botswana’s solidarity with the people of Western Sahara “stems from a strong belief in the right to self-determination and also from our conviction that the total eradication of colonialism will have a positive impact on peace and security, human rights and development in the concerned territories and globally,” he said.
Botswana he adds “is concerned that in some Territories, certain actors have put obstacles in the path to decolonization. Such is the situation in the last colonial case in Africa, Western Sahara, where the holding of a referendum has been obstructed for thirty (30) years.”
Botswana Ambassador further considered that “the unilateral obstructionist actions including, among others, military aggression, human rights violations, undermining of a raft of relevant UN resolutions and international law, have delayed progress, and led to the collapse in November 2020 of the 1991 Ceasefire.”
He also considered that “whereas the situation has become dire, recent consultations with concerned parties in the region by Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Western Sahara, are a welcome development.”
In this vein, he urged “parties to muster good faith and political will and recommit to a political process whose objective will be to grant the people of Western Sahara the long-awaited opportunity to exercise their right to self-determination and independence.”
Botswana however considers that while it commends “the Secretary-General’s provision of good offices through his Personal Envoy, we also wish to underscore the primacy of the General Assembly in the decolonization of Western Sahara and other remaining Non-Self-Governing Territories.”
In this connection, Botswana continues “to encourage the Special Committee on Decolonization (C24) to undertake a visiting mission to Western Sahara in order to assess the situation in the Territory. The visiting mission is long overdue given that the last one was conducted in 1975.”
“Also greatly important is the contribution of the African Union (AU) towards finding a just, peaceful, and lasting solution to the Question of Western Sahara. It would be recalled that in March 2021 the AU reinvigorated its historical role as a guarantor of the UN-OAU Settlement Plan,” he concluded. (SPS)
090/500/60 (SPS)