London (UK), April 05, 2017 (SPS) - Mhamed Kheddad, the Sahrawi coordinator with the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) and member of the national secretariat of Polisario Front has been received on Tuesday at the British Foreign Office.
Kheddad told APS that he has presented the last developments in the Occupied Sahrawi Territories, a few days ahead of the presentation of the UN secretary general report on Western Sahara to the Security Council, which the UK is a permanent member and closely follows the Sahrawi issue.
He also renewed the stance of the Polisario Front,- the legitimate representative of Western Sahara people-, for a peaceful and political solution to the Sahrawi conflict, which is called by UN a question of decolonization.
The solution to Western Sahara conflict is contingent on the respect of the principle of Western Sahara self-determination, blocked by Morocco, the coordinator said.
Kheddad also stressed to his British interlocutors that it was time for the UN Security Council to set out the responsibilities and blockages that are the work of Morocco, which has expelled the MINURSO members, refuses to honour its commitments on the holding of a self-determination referendum, is plundering the natural resources in the occupied territories, violating the human rights and blocking the negotiations for 5 years.
The Sahrawi official who also discussed the tension that has existed since August 2016 in Guerguerat, in the southernmost part of Western Sahara, said it was the consequence of the violation of ceasefire by Morocco.
"The Moroccan forces withdrawal of few metres is not the solution. We need to stop the tension by closing the crossing to Guerguerat and also return to the cease-fire agreement as demanded by the UN chief in order to prevent any further violations," he said.
The UN Security Council must reinstate credibility in the MINURSO by its return to the full functionality, under Resolution 2285, and also relaunch the negotiations in application of all UN resolutions on Western Sahara, Kheddad explained, while stressing that the Polisario Front was ready to cooperate.
The British government, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council closely follows the situation in Western Sahara.
"The UK favors the success of the UN action in Western Sahara, the application of the Security Council resolutions," said Khaddad.
Concerning the issue of human rights in Western Sahara, Khaddad expressed his respect to the British position, concluding that the principle of peoples’ self-determination is constant and imprescriptible position for the British. SPS
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