Bir Lahlou (Liberated Territories), March 5, 2017 (SPS) -The Sahrawi people are celebrating on Sunday the 41st anniversary of the foundation of the first Sahrawi government, with the resolution of pursuing the fight to recover their land from the Moroccan occupier.
In a context marked by legal and diplomatic victories and a large-scale campaign of international solidarity in support to the Sahrawi cause, the Council of Ministers held a meeting under the chairmanship of Sahrawi president and Secretary General of Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali.
"The meeting which was attended by the members of the Polisario Front National Secretariat, of the government and the members of the staff of the Sahrawi People’s Army of Liberation (ALPS), focused on the "last developments in Western Sahara issue as well as the repopulation of the liberated territories of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic."
Soon after the proclamation of the Sahrawi Republic, the first Sahrawi government was formed on 5 March 1976 in Bir Lahlou, chaired by Mohamed Lamin Ould Ahmed, despite the lack of means and the exodus of thousands feeling the Moroccan invasion.
Speaking about the situation in the liberated zone of Guergarat, the Sahrawi Council of Ministers has "categorically rejected the attempts of the Moroccan regime to mislead the international public opinion appearing like a collaborator through the withdrawal of soldiers to hundreds of meters of the ‘wall of shame’."
"Through such a behavior, Morocco wants to hide its military occupation of Western Sahara, its repeated abuse of cease fire and its non-compliance with the international law by expelling Minurso's civilian staff and the international observers, its hindering of a peaceful solution to the conflict as well as its plunder of Western Sahara natural resources," said the Council in a communiqué.
For the Council of Ministers, "the treatment of the situation in Guergarat cannot be partial … taking into account the causes and not the results," reiterating the Sahrawi people's attachment to their inalienable rights to self-determination and independence and by all the legitimate means at its disposal.
It also reaffirmed that the Sahrawi party was committed to the international legitimacy and ready to cooperate with UN Secretary-General and his Personal Envoy for the implementation of international resolutions and the application of MINURSO mission, namely the organization of a free and fair referendum for Sahrawi people right to self-determination. (SPS)
062/090/700