Bir Lehlou, Sahrawi Republic - 31 October 2024 - (SPS) The Frente POLISARIO issued today a Press Release following the adoption by the Security Council of its new resolution by which it decided to extend the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) until 31 October 2025.
The Press Release recalls that the Security Council, in its resolution, recalls and reaffirms all its previous resolutions on Western Sahara, and reaffirms its commitment to assist the two parties, the Frente POLISARIO and Morocco, to achieve a just and lasting solution that will provide for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara. The Security Council likewise recognises the important role played by MINURSO on the ground and the need for it to fully implement its mandate.
The Press Release adds that, despite all this, the Security Council has once again opted for a technical rollover of the mandate of the Mission, which is an indication of the continued influence of some influential members that continue to block the Council from acting determinedly and taking practical measures to empower MINURSO to fully implement its mandate as established in Security Council Resolution 690 (1991).
The Press Release underlines that the Frente POLISARIO underscores once again that the UN-OAU Settlement Plan, which is the basis of the mandate of MINURSO, is the only reference framework for solution that has been solemnly accepted by both parties, the Frente POLISARIO and Morocco, and approved unanimously by the Security Council, and thus it remains the realistic, practicable and most credible solution to the conflict.
In concluding, the Press Release underlines the strong reaffirmation by the Frente POLISARIO of the unwavering determination of the Sahrawi people to continue and intensify their liberation struggle and resistance by all legitimate means, including armed struggle, to realise their national aspirations for freedom and independence and the reestablishment of their sovereignty over the entire Territory of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).
The full text of the Press Release as received by SPS:
FRENTE POLISARIO
PRESS RELEASE
THE SAHRAWI PEOPLE WILL CONTINUE TO INTENSIFY THEIR LEGITIMATE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE
[Bir Lehlou, Sahrawi Republic - 31 October 2024] On 31 October 2024, the Security Council adopted resolution 2756 (2024) whereby it decided to extend the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) until 31 October 2025.
In its resolution, the Security Council recalls and reaffirms all its previous resolutions on Western Sahara and reaffirms its commitment to assist the two parties, the Frente POLISARIO and Morocco, to achieve a just and lasting solution that will provide for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara. The Security Council likewise recognises the important role played by MINURSO on the ground and the need for it to fully implement its mandate.
Moreover, the Security Council strongly urges enhancing cooperation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), including through facilitating visits to the region, and reiterates the call for enhancing this cooperation. This is a very clear message to Morocco, the occupying state, which has been preventing the OHCHR from visiting Occupied Western Sahara for the ninth consecutive year, while the Security Council remained silent and did not hold the occupying state accountable for this irresponsible action that challenges the authority of the Council itself.
The debate surrounding this point has laid bare the position of Morocco, the occupying state, and those who support it, including France, who have been opposing any international monitoring in Occupied Western Sahara for fear that the world will know about the unspeakable crimes and gross human rights violations committed by the occupying state against the Sahrawi people.
Despite all this, the Security Council has once again opted for a technical rollover of the mandate of the Mission, which is an indication of the continued influence of some influential members that continue to block the Council from acting determinedly and taking practical measures to empower MINURSO to fully implement its mandate as established in Security Council Resolution 690 (1991).
Moreover, the continued failure of the Security Council to hold Morocco, the occupying state, accountable for its material breach of the 1991 ceasefire not only amounts to condoning impunity and lack of accountability, but also undermines the confidence of the Sahrawi people and the Frente POLISARIO in the United Nations and its sponsored peace process in Western Sahara.
The Frente POLISARIO underscores once again that the UN-OAU Settlement Plan, which is the basis of the mandate of MINURSO, is the only reference framework for solution that has been solemnly accepted by both parties, the Frente POLISARIO and Morocco, and approved unanimously by the Security Council, and thus it remains the realistic, practicable and most credible solution to the conflict.
Therefore, what is needed from the Security Council is to empower MINURSO, which the Council established under its authority, to fully implement its mandate with a view to bringing about a peaceful, just and lasting solution to the decolonisation of Western Sahara based on the free and democratic exercise by the Sahrawi people of their inalienable, non-negotiable, and imprescriptible right to self-determination and independence.
In this context, the Frente POLISARIO strongly affirms that it will not engage in any peace process that is supported neither by the Security Council resolutions as an integrated whole nor by the letter and spirit of the General Assembly resolutions and the provisions of the Settlement Plan that underlies MINURSO mandate and its raison d’être.
In the same vein, the Frente POLISARIO reiterates its categorical rejection of any “proposal”, regardless of the origin thereof, which falls outside the legal framework of Western Sahara as a decolonisation issue and is contrary to the core mandate of MINURSO.
Given that MINURSO continues to lack a mandate for monitoring and protecting human rights in Occupied Western Sahara, the Frente POLISARIO once again urges the Security Council to operationalise the legal and moral responsibility of the United Nations towards the Sahrawi people.
This must include, among other things, the establishment of a UN mechanism for independent, impartial, comprehensive and sustained monitoring of the human rights in Occupied Western Sahara where MINURSO continues to operate without any human rights monitoring capacity and where UN bodies are still denied access to the Territory.
The Frente POLISARIO urges UN Member States, especially European countries, to realise the great significance and the far-reaching impact of the momentum created by the recent ruling of the European Court of Justice, which reaffirmed the illegality of EU-Morocco agreements because they were concluded in violation of the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination and permanent sovereignty over their natural resources.
UN Member States have the duty to refrain from any actions or measures, whatever their nature, that undermine the international status of Western Sahara as a decolonisation issue or deprive the Sahrawi people of their inalienable right to freedom and self-determination, which constitutes a peremptory norm of international law that is binding on all States, as affirmed recently by the International Court of Justice.
Motivated by its desire to achieve a just and lasting peace, the Frente POLISARIO reiterates its readiness to cooperate with the efforts undertaken by the United Nations and the African Union with a view to bringing about the decolonisation of Western Sahara, the last colony in Africa, in accordance with the UN Charter and resolutions and the objectives and principles of the Constitutive Act of the African Union.
In the meantime, the Frente POLISARIO strongly reaffirms the unwavering determination of the Sahrawi people to continue and intensify their liberation struggle and resistance by all legitimate means, including armed struggle, to realise their national aspirations for freedom and independence and the reestablishment of their sovereignty over the entire Territory of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).