Algiers, Feb 3, 2015 (SPS) - Saharawi Foreign Minister Mohamed Salem Ould Salek said Tuesday in Algiers that the Sahrawi people and government expected the UN Secretary General's Personal Envoy for Western Sahara and the Security Council Christopher Ross to accelerate the holding of the self-determination referendum in Western Sahara "in full transparency, freedom and democracy.”
The Sahrawi people and leaders “expect the UN envoy, who announced his return to the region, to carry out the mission of holding a self-determination referendum in Western Sahara in full transparency, freedom and democracy,” said Ould Salek who held a press conference at the headquarters of the Sahrawi embassy.
This mission is “clear” and it was signed by both parties (Western Sahara and Morocco) under the aegis of the UN and the OAU (now the African Union), he argued, adding “cannot be further delayed”.
The Sahrawi people hope the Security Council, which must submit its report on Western Sahara in April, “assumes its responsibilities with regard to this issue and stops its policy of procrastination”, especially, that “the Security Council created the MINURSO (United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara) to put an end to the occupation of Western Sahara.”
After he denounced the Moroccan manoeuvres impeding the implementation of the international legality, the Saharawi Minister of Foreign Affairs called on the UN to accelerate decolonization in Western Sahara by setting a deadline for self-determination referendum. (SPS)
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