BRUSSELS (Belgium), April 12, 2023 (SPS) - The Ambassador in charge of Europe and the European Union, Mr. Oubbi Bushraya Al-Bashir, stressed that the option of a cease-fire would be "only with a real political will to resolve the conflict, instead of managing it."
In an interview with a Tunisian channel, Oubbi Bushraya explained that the Polisario Front, "as a liberation movement recognized by the United Nations as the sole and legitimate representative of the Sahrawi people, is in a comfortable situation and still possesses the important elements to achieve victory, despite the difficulties it faces in light of the international present situation."
In this regard, he continued, the Polisario front "has kept the elements of its strength that it derives from the support of the Sahrawi people around it, and its presence in the field, whether in the liberated or occupied territories, in addition to the support it enjoys from the legal aspect and international legitimacy."
Regarding the Polisario Front's current vision to settle the conflict in Western Sahara, the Sahrawi diplomat stressed that this matter will only be achieved with the availability of a real political will that breaks with the dominant approach, which is "running the conflict instead of resolving it", also to returning to a stronger political path than the one that existed in 1991, following the signing of the cease-fire agreement, which called for the organization of a self-determination referendum to enable the Sahrawi people to choose their destiny.
Mr. Oubbi Bushraya believes that "while waiting for the international community, headed by the UN Security Council, to fulfill its commitments and impose the political will for a real settlement in the region, the Polisario Front is engaged in an open national resistance on all fronts, whether military or diplomatic, without excluding the peaceful resistance within the occupied Sahrawi territories.
As for the Sahrawi ambassador, the first problem facing the settlement in Western Sahara is Morocco's lack of readiness yet for a just and final peaceful solution to the conflict, which it (Morocco) considers the conflict as a "goal" and a paper kept by the Makhzen for internal affairs, with the aim of obscuring the social discontent resulting from the situation in the Kingdom.
And more than a year after the Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to Western Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, assumed his duties, the Saharawi diplomat confirmed that from the outset, "it was confirmed that the problem is not in the UN envoy, but rather in the application of international legitimacy by the Security Council."
Oubbi Bushraya went on saying that de Mistura "did not exercise his political mission so far" in the region and did not get into the dynamic that would lead to a just and final solution. The briefing he will give before the Security Council on April 19 remains "procedural, nothing more, and nothing less."
The Sahrawi diplomat recalled the failure of Morocco's approaches, which he had imagined since 1975 that the Sahrawis would be eliminated within a week, but after five decades of conflict he still faces the same fighting spirit of the Sahrawi warrior, highlighting that, except for the tweet of former US President Donald Trump, "Which politically has been retracted by the new US administration, there is no self-respecting country that recognizes Morocco's alleged sovereignty over Western Sahara."
Today - the Saharawi diplomat added - "Morocco will receive a strong blow at the level of its relations with the European Union countries at the end of this year, on the occasion of the expected decision of the European Court of Justice, which will inevitably confirm its previous decision to cancel the economic agreements signed by the Union with Morocco in a clear violation to the decisions of European justice.
In this regard, Oubbi Bushraya inferred the "retreat" recorded on a number of levels to support these agreements, whether at the European level or on the Moroccan side, whose Minister of Agriculture stated that it is not possible to renew the fishing agreement between the two parties, which includes occupied Western Sahara.
He concluded by saying that "despite all the maneuvers that Morocco is carrying out here and there, the data indicate the opposite, and even strengthen the confidence of the Sahrawi people in continuing the struggle and resistance and in the inevitability of victory."
SPS 110/T