Brussels, Jan 14, 2015 (SPS) - Minister Delegate for Europe, Mohamed Sidati, described as “an affront” to international law, international community and to the Sahrawi people the holding of the 2015 Crans Montana Forum in the occupied city of Dakhla, Western Sahara.
In a letter addressed to the President of Crans Montana Forum Jean Paul Carteron, a copy of which obtained by SPS, the minister asked the Forum’s administration to reconsider holding the event in Western Sahara whilst it is occupied and its people have their human rights violated.
Asking them to assume a responsibility in line with international law and legality, the minister called upon the organizers of the Forum not to support the illegal occupation of Western Sahara, by aligning themselves with a repressive regime, which intent on denying the Sahrawi people their basic right to self-determination.
The letter went on saying that Moroccan occupying authorities continue to commit daily human rights abuses, ranging from assassination, arbitrary detention, torture, forced disappearances, military trials for civilians to restrictions on freedoms of movement, association and assembly.
Recalling that Western Sahara is registered by the United Nations as a non-self-governing territory pending decolonization and is regarded as ‘Africa’s last colony’, the official underlined that the International Court of Justice recognized the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination and rejected Morocco’s claim of sovereignty over the territory.
Following is full text of the letter:
“13 January 2015
Jean Paul Carteron, President of the Crans Montana Forum, Switzerland.
Dear Mr. President,
It is with frustration and disappointment that I learnt that the Crans Montana Forum has decided to use Dakhla, in the occupied Western Sahara, as the host city of its forthcoming event.
Dakhla, and the majority of Western Sahara, forms part of an occupied territory that was violently overrun and unjustly annexed by Morocco in 1975. Its people, whose ultimate wish is the fundamental, internationally mandated human right of self-determination, have been egregiously repressed and oppressed.
Western Sahara is registered by the United Nations as a non-self-governing territory pending decolonization, and is regarded as ‘Africa’s last colony’. The International Court of Justice recognized the right of Western Sahara’s people to self-determination, as have many United Nations resolutions, rejecting Morocco’s claim of sovereignty over the territory. In 2002, Hans Corell, an Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, declared Morocco to have no administrative power over Western Sahara, and no country in the world recognizes its sovereignty over the territory.
Morocco’s occupation is sustained through insidiously subduing the Sahrawi people and their legitimate claims. Moroccan authorities enact human rights abuses daily. Those range from assassination, arbitrary detention, torture, forced disappearances, military trials for civilians to restrictions on freedoms of movement, association and assembly. International observers, such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Kennedy Center and the European Parliament have detailed these violations extensively.
I am writing to ask you to assume a responsibility in line with international law and the international legality, and not to ignore the gravity of the situation in Western Sahara.
Do not support the illegal occupation of Western Sahara. Do not align yourself with a repressive regime, intent on denying the Sahrawi people their basic right to self-determination, as given to them by international law and numerous United Nations resolutions.
Holding the 2015 Crans Montana Forum on Africa in Dakhla is an affront to international law, to the international community and to the Sahrawi people.
I ask that you reconsider holding the event in Western Sahara whilst it is occupied, and whilst its people have their human rights violated.
Please accept the assurances of my highest consideration.
Mohamed Sidati
Ministre, Représentant du Front POLISARIO pour Europa.(SPS)
090/089/000