Bir Lehlou (Saharawi Republic) 13 November 2020 (SPS)- President of the Republic and Secretary-General of the Frente POLISARIO, Mr Brahim Ghali, today sent an urgent letter to the UN Secretary-General, Mr António Guterres, and the President of the Security Council, Ambassador Inga Rhonda King, Permanent Representative of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to the United Nations, informing them of the implications of today’s aggressive attack by Moroccan forces on unarmed Sahrawi civilians who have been demonstrating peacefully in Guerguerat in south-western Western Sahara.
The text of the letter:
H.E. Mr António Guterres
Secretary-General of the United Nations
United Nations, New YorkBir Lehlou, 13 November 2020
Your Excellency,
It is with great urgency and concern that I write to you to inform that the Moroccan military forces have launched a brutal attack on unarmed Sahrawi civilians who have been demonstrating peacefully in Guerguerat in south-western Western Sahara.
The military operation by Moroccan forces against Sahrawi civilians is an act of aggression and a flagrant violation of the ceasefire that the United Nations and the Security Council should condemn in the strongest possible terms.
Faced with this act of aggression, the military forces of the Frente POLISARIO have been forced to engage the Moroccan forces in self-defence and to protect civilians. We hold the Moroccan occupying state fully responsible for the consequences of its military operation, and we call on the United Nations to intervene urgently to put an end to this aggression against our people and our Territory.
The fact that the military action comes on the eve of the engagement between the UN Secretary-General and the Frente POLISARIO, scheduled for today, demonstrates clearly that the operation is a premeditated act of aggression on the part of the occupying state to torpedo your efforts to diffuse tensions and deescalate the situation in Guerguerat.
By launching this military operation today, the Moroccan occupying state has seriously undermined not only the ceasefire and related military agreements but also any chances of achieving a peaceful and lasting solution to the decolonisation question of Western Sahara.
I would be grateful if you would bring this letter to the attention of the Members of the Security Council.
Please accept, Your Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.
Brahim Ghali
President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
Secretary-General of the Frente POLISARIO