New York, Dec 20 2021 (SPS) - Dr. Sidi Mohamed Omar, member of the National Secretariat of the Frente POLISARIO, Representative at the United Nations and Coordinator with MINURSO, addressed yesterday a letter to the UN Secretary-General, Mr António Guterres, in which he drew his attention and the attention of the members of the Security Council to the continued and escalating human rights violations perpetrated by the occupying state of Morocco against Sahrawi civilians in the Occupied Western Sahara.
In this regard, Dr. Sidi Mohamed Omar expressed the strong condemnation of the Sahrawi Authorities of the wave of brutal violence unleashed by the Moroccan security when hundreds of Sahrawi civilians spontaneously took to the streets in several cities of the Occupied Western Sahara to peacefully celebrate Algeria’s winning of the FIFA Arab Cup 2021 on Saturday.
The Sahrawi Diplomat called urgently upon the Secretary-General and the Security Council to hold the occupying state of Morocco accountable for its continued, repressive actions as well as the heinous crimes perpetrated by its security forces against the Sahrawi civilians and human rights activists.
The full text of the letter as received by SPS:
Letter from the Representative of the Frente POLISARIO at the United Nations and Coordinator with MINURSO to the Secretary-General of the United Nations
H.E. Mr António Guterres
Secretary-General of the United Nations
United Nations, New York
New York, 19 December 2021
Your Excellency,
Upon instructions from my Authorities, I am writing to you to draw your attention and the attention of the members of the Security Council to the continued and escalating human rights violations perpetrated by the occupying state of Morocco against Sahrawi civilians in the Territories of Western Sahara under Moroccan illegal military occupation.
Yesterday, hundreds of Sahrawi civilians spontaneously took to the streets in El Aaiún, the capital of the Occupied Western Sahara, to peacefully celebrate Algeria’s winning of the FIFA Arab Cup 2021.
Several cities in the Occupied Western Sahara including Smara, Bojador and Dajla also witnessed similar acts of celebration in which Sahrawis of all ages took to the streets to express peacefully their joy by chanting slogans celebrating Algeria’s football victory and waving the flags of the Sahrawi Republic and Algeria in the streets and over the roofs of their houses.
As part of its continued, systematic policy of repression in the Occupied Western Sahara, the Moroccan security forces, who had already been deployed and heavily present on the streets, resorted to their habitual brutal violence to prevent the Sahrawi civilians from celebrating Algeria’s football victory, in the same violent way in which the Moroccan security forces reacted to the Sahrawis’ celebration of Algeria’s victory over the occupying state of Morocco on 11 December 2021.
Hundreds of Moroccan security agents including policemen in uniform and in plain clothes, gendarmerie and auxiliary forces took part in the brutal attack resulting in many Sahrawi civilians being brutalised and their houses being violently raided. Many young Sahrawis, including minores, were detained and severely beaten by Moroccan security agents.
We strongly condemn this new wave of brutal violence unleashed by the Moroccan security forces against Sahrawi civilians in the Occupied Territories of Western Sahara. We urgently call upon you and the Security Council to hold the occupying state of Morocco accountable for its continued, repressive actions as well as the heinous crimes perpetrated by its security forces against the Sahrawi civilians and human rights activists.
As we have warned in previous communications, the occupying state of Morocco would not have been able to persist in its illegal military occupation of parts of Western Sahara and its repressive acts against Sahrawi civilians had it been for the complacency of some key members of the Security Council and the unjustifiable silence of the international community.
The time has come for the United Nations and the international community to realise that their failure to resolutely confront the aggressive and expansionist policy of the occupying state of Morocco is contributing to an unsustainable and dangerous situation that may have dire consequences on peace and security of the entire region, especially in the aftermath of the serious breach of the 1991 ceasefire by the occupying state of Morocco on 13 November 2020 and its illegal military occupation of more of the Sahrawi land.
In concluding, I would like to reiterate that the Frente POLISARIO, which remains committed to the peaceful, just, and lasting solution to the decolonisation of Western Sahara, will never accept the fait accompli that the occupying state of Morocco is seeking to impose by force in the Occupied Western Sahara, and that it will continue to use all legitimate means to defend the sacred rights of the Sahrawi people and their national aspirations for freedom and independence.
I would be most grateful if you would bring the present letter to the attention of the members of the Security Council.
Please accept, Your Excellency, the assurance of my highest consideration,
Dr Sidi M. Omar
Ambassador
Representative of the Frente POLISARIO at the United Nations
Coordinator with MINURSO". (SPS)
090/500/60 (SPS)