New York (United Nations) 12 February 2022 (SPS) - The Frente POLISARIO expressed its condemnation of the continuation of the scorched-earth policy pursued by the Moroccan occupation in the Occupied Territories of Western Sahara.
In a letter sent yesterday to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr Antonio Guterres, by Member of the National Secretariat, Representative of the Frente POLISARIO at the United Nations and Coordinator with MINURSO, Dr Sidi Mohamed Omar, expressed the Sahrawi authorities’ strong condemnation of the continuation of the scorched-earth policy pursued by the occupying state of Morocco in the Sahrawi Occupied Territories.
Dr Sidi Mohamed Omar drew attention to the widespread campaign of terrorisation carried out these days by the Moroccan occupying authorities against many Sahrawi families and expropriating their properties.
In this context, the Representative of the Frente POLISARIO at the United Nations and Coordinator with MINURSO recalled the repeated calls by the Frente POLISARIO and its emphasis on the need for the United Nations to assume its responsibility fully and effectively towards Western Sahara and its people, as reaffirmed repeatedly by the UN General Assembly.
The following is the full text of the letter as received by SPS:
H.E. Mr António Guterres
Secretary-General of the United Nations
United Nations, New York
New York, 12 February 2022
Your Excellency,
Upon instructions from my Authorities, I am writing with great concern to draw your attention and that of the Security Council to the continued scorched-earth policy pursued by the occupying state of Morocco since the beginning of its illegal military occupation of Western Sahara on 31 October 1975 with the declared objective of annihilating the Sahrawi people and expropriating their land and resources.
The latest reports coming from the Sahrawi Occupied Territories indicate that the Moroccan occupying authorities are carrying out a large-scale scorched-earth policy against many Sahrawi families living outside major Sahrawi occupied cities.
The policy, which is organised and implemented by the occupying security forces, include destruction of houses and livelihoods, vandalism of properties, and the killing of livestock with the declared objective of uprooting Sahrawi families from their homes and lands.
The Frente POLISARIO vehemently condemns the continued scorched-earth policy and the recent campaign of terror and dispossession unleashed by the occupying state of Morocco against Sahrawis in the Occupied Territories.
Since day one of its illegal miliary occupation of Western Sahara, the occupying forces used the most dreadful methods of mass murder, burying people alive and throwing them off helicopters in addition to the indiscriminate bombing of civilians with banned weapons such as napalm and white phosphorus munitions.
The Moroccan occupying authorities continue to impose a military blockade and a media blackout on the Sahrawi Occupied Territories that remain encircled by the 2700 km long Moroccan wall of shame, which is the largest separation wall in the world. Fortified with millions of landmines, including the internationally banned anti-personnel mines, the Moroccan wall of shame continues to divide Western Sahara and its people, to kill civilians and their livestock and to wreak havoc on their livelihoods.
The Moroccan occupying authorities have also been engaged in sustained terrorising and retaliatory actions against Sahrawi civilians, human rights activists, and journalists in the Sahrawi Occupied Territories. The level of violence and brutality to which Sahrawis are being subjected daily is a true affront to the human conscience, and to all the principles and values that the United Nations stands for.
Since the occupying state of Morocco torpedoed the 1991 ceasefire on 13 November 2020, the Moroccan occupying forces have been using all types of weapons, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), to callously kill not only dozens of Sahrawi civilians but also civilians and nationals of neighbouring countries while in transit through the Sahrawi Liberated Territories.
In previous communications, including the letter (S/2020/66) that was distributed as a document of the Security Council on 28 January 2020, the Frente POLISARIO stressed the need for the United Nations to assume fully and effectively its responsibility towards Western Sahara and its people as reaffirmed repeatedly by the UN General Assembly.
This responsibility entails ensuring the protection of the political, economic, social, and cultural rights of the Sahrawi people, including their right to permanent sovereignty over their natural resources, and regular reporting on the situation in the Territory to relevant United Nations bodies.
We call upon you, Mr Secretary-General, to act urgently to end the brutality and terror to which Sahrawi civilians and human rights activists, including Sultana Sid Brahim Jaya and her family, are subjected daily at the hands of the occupying state of Morocco in the Sahrawi Occupied Territories. We also call upon you to ensure the immediate and unconditional release of Sahrawi political prisoners, including Gdeim Izik Group, who are being held in the prisons of the occupying state.
The persistence by the occupying state of Morocco in its heinous crimes against Sahrawi civilians, without being held accountable or punished for that, seriously undermines the prospects of the peace process, and closes the door on the desired peaceful solution.
We call urgently upon you and the Security Council to use the authority conferred upon you by the UN Charter and decisions to ensure that the occupying state of Morocco puts an end to its continued war of aggression against our people, which—if left unchecked—will plunge the whole region into more violence and instability.
Please accept, Your Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.
Dr Sidi M. Omar
Representative of the Frente POLISARIO at the United Nations
Coordinator with MINURSO.” (SPS)
090/500/60 (SPS)