New York (UN), 1 November 2022 (SPS) – Member of the National Secretariat and Representative of the Frente POLISARIO at the United Nations and Coordinator with MINURSO, Dr Sidi Mohamed Omar, stressed that the statements made by the representative of the occupying state of Morocco following the adoption of the latest Security Council resolution on the extension of the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) are just a new episode of the pathetic acrobatic shows prepared mainly for domestic consumption.
In a statement to the Sahara Press Service (SPS), Dr Sidi Mohamed Omar said that the representative of the occupying state, as evidence of his poor and pathetic performance, brought in a group of “journalists” loyal to the occupying regime to whom he distributed roles to ask him about a set of topics whose answers had been prepared in advance, thinking that this ploy would fool the international journalists and diplomats present at the media encounter.
During this poor “monologue”, the representative of the occupying state displayed his “expertise” in deception and disinformation when he desperately tried to deny the existence of a Sahrawi civil society in the Liberated Territories of the Sahrawi Republic and the Sahrawi refugee camps. He cited one of the articles of the Constitution of the Sahrawi State against the background of the mention in the Secretary-General’s recent report of the meetings that the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Western Sahara held with Sahrawi civil society groups.
The Representative of the Frente POLISARIO at the United Nations stressed that the noise made by the representative of the occupying state will not obscure the fact that there is a vibrant Sahrawi civil society including women, youth, and voluntary groups in both the Liberated Territories of the Sahrawi Republic and the refugee camps as well as active human rights organisations in the Sahrawi Occupied Territories.
The Sahrawi diplomat wondered since when does the concept of civil society mean anything to the representative of an absolute monarchy based on tyranny and degradation of human dignity that strips Moroccans of their sense of citizenship and civil status to become mere “subjects” who are forced to succumb to humiliating practices that call to mind the past ages of slavery?
The occupying state of Morocco, added Dr Sidi Mohamed Omar, is the least qualified in the world to speak of human rights and fundamental freedoms due to its appalling and well-documented human rights record and its inherently repressive and authoritarian political regime. Moreover, raising the issue of civil society is aimed at trying to hide the fact that the occupying state refused and obstructed the visit of the Personal Envoy to the Territory in early July.
He further stated that it is very clear that the occupying state continues to fear that the Personal Envoy would witness first-hand the situation on the ground in the Sahrawi Occupied Territories and the repression to which Sahrawi civilians and human rights activists are subjected daily under the illegal Moroccan military occupation.
In an indirect response to the brief mention in the Secretary-General’s latest report of the situation of Sahrawi prisoners among the Gdeim Izik group, the representative of the occupying state claimed that they were living in “the best conditions”. This claim is refuted by the reports of the competent United Nations bodies and international human rights organisations, which confirm that Sahrawi prisoners live in deplorable conditions and are subjected to humiliating and retaliatory practices by the Moroccan prison administration, which deprives them of the most basic rights to receive family visits and necessary health care.
The Representative of the Frente POLISARIO at the United Nations added that, as usual, the representative of the occupying state of Morocco rehashed the same false propaganda that the occupying state has long been spreading regarding the existence of “forced recruitment of children” in Sahrawi refugee camps. To support its baseless claims, the occupying state often presents photoshopped images and uses pictures taken from different conflict zones.
In this context, the Sahrawi diplomat emphasised that many United Nations, European Union, and international agencies have been present in the Sahrawi refugee camps for decades, and that none of them has ever supported Morocco’s misleading claims.
Dr Sidi Mohamed Omar added that, instead of making baseless allegations about Sahrawi children, the representative of the occupying state of Morocco should have been deeply concerned and ashamed about the situation of so many children in his own country who are being exploited where “some foreign nationals, primarily from Europe and the Middle East, engage in child sex tourism in major Moroccan cities”, according to the Trafficking in Persons report issued by the U.S. Department of State in July 2022.
As part of the continued, desperate attempt by the Moroccan regime to discredit the legitimate liberation struggle waged by the Sahrawi people against the illegal Moroccan occupation of parts of the Sahrawi Republic, which has entered a new phase since 13 November 2020, the representative of the occupying state claimed that there are military relations between the Frente POLISARIO and foreign actors, citing images of military devices the manufacture of which has been shown by specialists to be different from the one claimed by the representative who is obsessed with fabrication.
In conclusion, the Representative of the Frente POLISARIO at the United Nations and Coordinator with MINURSO stressed that, by spreading such malicious propaganda, the occupying state of Morocco seeks only to hide its well-documented role in supporting terrorism and transnational terrorist groups that rely on Moroccan-made cannabis and other drugs as the main source of financing its terrorist operations in the Sahel and the Sahara region.
The reliance of the occupying state on external actors and its attempt to please them by spreading these kinds of false propaganda demonstrate that its childish diplomacy is in disarray at a time when it persists in its aggressive policy, which threatens the security and stability of the entire region. (SPS)
090/500/60 (SPS)