New York, June 15, 2013 (SPS) - The United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization (Committee of 24) started Wednesday discussions on the situation in Western Sahara, including hearing of petitioners, and during which the delegations of the UN member states expressed consistent support to Saharawi people’s right to self-determination.
Speaking on the first hearing day, the representative of Venezuela to the UN, Arline Diaz Mendoza, said her country supported Saharawi people’s right to self-determination, recalling that Venezuela has been recognizing the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) since 1983.
The representative of Ecuador, Xavier Lasso, reiterated his country’s support to the legitimate aspiration of the Saharawi people, calling for a halt to “to military occupation of this non-autonomous territory.”
He, in particular, called on all parties and the UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for Western Sahara, Christopher Ross, to do everything possible to ensure the holding of a referendum in Western Sahara and enable the Saharawi people to express their will through the exercise of their right to self-determination, in accordance with the objectives of the UN Charter and relevant resolutions.
The representative has also emphasized the need for careful consideration of the situation of human rights in the occupied territories of Western Sahara since, he said, it was not included in the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).
He, too, believed that a “quick fix” to the situation in Western Sahara was “urgent” in the current regional context.
The Committee of 24 also heard the Representative of Cuba, Yessika Comesana Perdomo, which noted that the fight for independence and the recognition of the right to a Saharawi state on the territory of Western Sahara dates back to more than 40 years.
“The Saharawi people saw a dramatic humanitarian situation,” she lamented, recalling that the Committee of 24 had a central role in the discussion of this issue in order to enable the Saharawi people to determine their own future.
Ms. Perdoma expressed concern about the exploitation of the wealth of the Saharawi occupied territories and the deteriorating humanitarian situation of the Saharawis, especially with the decline in international aid due to the consequences of the economic and financial situation in many countries of the world.
Noting that no remarkable progress has been made on the question of Western Sahara, she felt it was urgent to find a solution to this conflict in accordance with relevant UN resolutions and to respect the right of the Saharawi people to live freely and in peace within its territory.
The representative stated that Cuba has contributed to the development of the Saharawi people, especially in the field of education: more than 300 young Saharawis are studying in Cuba, while that by the end of 2012, a number of 1825 Saharawi students had obtained a Cuban degree, she said.
From his part, the representative of Nicaragua, Jasser Jimenez, reiterated the commitment and solidarity of his country with the struggle of the Saharawi people to enjoy their right to self-determination.
“It is imperative that the Saharawi people achieve independence,” he undrlined.
In that spirit, he said, Nicaragua recognized on September 1979 the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic and has continued ever since to support the struggle of its people.
Pending a final resolution of this issue, he said, the international community should defend the rights of the Saharawis in the territories, occupied by Morocco.
Present at this meeting, the Polisario Representative to the UN, Ahmed Bukhari, said that the international community has tried to resolve the conflict in Western Sahara for over forty years on the basis of the principles of UN and AU resolutions.
“In 1975, with the invasion and occupation of the territory of Western Sahara by Moroccan security forces, which have replaced the Spanish colonial forces, we have witnessed a precedent dangerous for the security and stability of African countries, which emerged from the struggle against the colonial night long,” he said.
Ahmed Bukhari, in this context, noted that all the efforts of the UN and AU, especially since 1991, and the approval of a plan to resolve the question of Western Sahara by the Security Council, have met with an opposition from Morocco.
In this regard, he recalled that Morocco has opposed the implementation of the plan, though he had accepted, after realizing that the referendum would lead to the independence of the Saharawis.
“The refusal of Morocco to see the application of the measures approved by the international community, the center which include the exercise by the Saharawi people to their right to self-determination through a referendum, is due to the fact that Morocco has quickly realized that in the referendum the Saharawis would choose, flawlessly, independence,” said the Representative of the Polisario Front.
Mr. Bukhari also said that Morocco is deliberately undermining all the efforts of the international community aimed at finding a just and lasting solution to the conflict in Western Sahara.
In addition, he noted that the UN and Security Council had not yet adopted the decisions and measures that would convince Morocco of its obligation to cooperate with the decolonization of the last colony in Africa, listed in the agenda of the Committee of 24.
According to him, the Polisario Front considers that “the United Nations, if it does not work, run the risk of finding themselves in a situation which undermines its credibility, and, in a kind of status quo, the situation neither war nor peace, which is marked by violations of human rights and looting of natural resources of a non-autonomous territory occupied by force.”
In this context, he insisted that the UN Decolonization Committee assumes responsibility “at the continuation of this long injustice against the Saharawi people.”
Stressing that the mission entrusted to MINURSO hampered by obstruction maneuvers of Morocco, he hoped that the Special Committee plays a decisive role in “decolonization”. (SPS)
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