New York (United Nations), 13 October 2023 (SPS) - Algeria’s permanent representative to the United Nations Amar Bendjama had masterfully deconstructed, before the 4th Committee of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly in charge of Special Political and Decolonization, Morocco’s biased and irrational narrative on the truth of the issue of Western Sahara, Algeria Press Service (APS) reported Friday.
In his implacable speech at the United Nations, Bendjama mentioned the known historical facts and underlined the irrefutable juridical and political arguments, calling to do the Sahrawi people, who suffered the colonial oppression for a long time, justice.
Speaking during the last session of the debate of the 4th Committee, Bendjama underlined the rooting of the freedom values in the Algerian diplomacy which has continuously affirmed proudly its unfailing support to emancipation’s activists, including those who bravely fought against the apartheid in South Africa.
When speaking to the Committee’s president, South African ambassador Mathu Joyini, he made sure to recall the historic moment when Nelson Mandela paid a visit to the headquarters of the United Nations, in the wake of his release.
The diplomat deplored that, decades later, this gapping and purulent wound still persists in Western Sahara, the last colony in the continent.
Pointing out the historical context of the Moroccan colonization in Western Sahara, he affirmed that “the recent history of this non-self-governing territory is a succession of fait accompli, formal Moroccan commitments followed by repeated renunciation of the promises made, on the highest level.”
He underscored all the episodes illustrating Morocco’s commitment, several times, to enable the consultation of the Sahrawi people as part of a self-determination referendum. Commitments, he said, were always followed by renunciation and negation.
In this regard, he recalled the obstacles created by Morocco to hinder the work of MINURSO (UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara), which was about to complete the identification of the electors, in addition to the resignations of James Baker and the former German president Horst Kohler from the position of personal envoy of UN Secretary General for Western Sahara following the Moroccan blockades.