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Suzanne Scholte: hopeful that Biden will reverse trump's recognition of Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara

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Washington D.C (USA) 03 February 2021 (SPS)- The President of the American organization, Defence Forum Foundation, Mrs. Suzanne Sholte, said Today in a statement to SPS that she is hopeful that President Biden's administration will reverse "Trump's wrong decision" to recognize the Moroccan illegal occupation of Western Sahara.
Asked about what she was expecting from the current Administration in the White House, Mrs. Sholte asserted that she is "very hopeful that we will be able to convince Biden and Harrison administration to reverse the wrong decision that was made by President Trump.
"She added that she feels confident "because the people who know this issue, it doesn't matter if they are Republicans or Democrats, Conservatives or Liberals, The people who know this issue and support Western Sahara have one thing in common and that is that they look at the issue from the legal aspect and they cannot be bought. They really care about the rule of law and they care about justice," she stressed.
For this reason she believes that "we will see this decision turned around but it is a question of going out there and making our case. And I think we have a strong case obviously because we are on the right side, we are on the side of history, justice, rule of law, and so I hope that we will prevail in that, and we want to emphasize our continuous commitment to ending the illegal occupation of Morocco so as the people of Western Sahara, those who are still living as refugees will be able to turn back to their homeland."
When asked about the position adopted by the former US Administration, Mrs. Sholte recalled that after Trump's recognition of Morocco's occupation of Western Sahara, her Foundation "immediately called on him to reverse his recognition," not only this she added, "we called on the then President Trump to recognize instead the legitimate government of the Saharawi Republic" stressing that "this is an illegal occupation."
She further added that in her over 25 years experience on the conflict in Western Sahara she "found that the only people that recognize Morocco's claims are either ignoring the facts and the history of this issue or worse they are getting some unseemly favors from Morocco, including bribes and financial support."
She also recalled the strong reactions from many US high profile personalities, such as the Republican Senator, Jim Inhofe, to Trump's decision.
"You have seen Senator Inhofe's very strong statement when he characterized Trump's decision as bad, and said that Trump has been very misguided. It is very ironic, we found, because it was Trump himself who exposed the corruption of the Moroccan lobby back in 2016."
She recalled the international community's position on this clear-cut case of decolonization, stressing that "the international court of justice and the European Court of Justice both rejected the Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara. No state in the world recognizes the Moroccan sovereignty over the territory until Trump misguided and wrong decision."
That was why, she said, "we called on President Trump to reverse his decision and instead recognize what the Saharawi Republic has achieved."
In this respect, she expressed admiration of the efforts paid by the people of Western Sahara to build a modern and democratic state.
"This is a Republic that embraces democratic values, freedom of expression, the right to vote, free market economy and it is remarkable what they have been able to achieve in the Saharawi Republic even though they are living as refugees still because of this illegal occupation," she concluded.
The Defense Forum Foundation is a U.S. non-profit foundation dedicated to promoting a strong national defense and promoting freedom, democracy, and human rights abroad. It is best known for its Congressional Defense and Foreign Policy Forums, held regularly on Capitol Hill for the benefit of Congressional staff, and for its work abroad promoting the freedom, human rights and dignity of the people. (SPS)
090/500/60 (SPS)