Shahid Al Hafed (Refugee Camps), 27 March 2022 (SPS) - The Sahrawi ambassador to Botswana, Malanin Lakhal, described, Saturday, the change of position of the Spanish government on the issue of Western Sahara as "new betrayal" to the Sahrawis and their cause, stressing that this step would not give Morocco "a legitimate authority over the territory", pending decolonization.
In a statement to APS, Malanin Lakhal said that the position expressed by the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, is "a new betrayal in all respects of the Sahrawi cause and responsibilities of the Spanish state in the tragedy of the Sahrawi people.
The Sahrawi diplomat also stressed that "this betrayal has no equal in contemporary history than the conspiracy between the former Spanish regime and Morocco in 1975 to divide Western Sahara and the origin of the Moroccan occupation.
Regarding the impact of Spain's reversal on the Sahrawi issue from a legal point of view, Malanin Lakhal assured that it "will not affect the legal status of Western Sahara, nor the nature of this conflict as a decolonization issue, stressing that "the support of the Kingdom of Spain to Morocco will not give the latter any legitimate authority over the territory, because the only holder of sovereignty over Western Sahara is the Sahrawi people, and the latter has its legitimate representative, in this case the Polisario Front.
As for Spain's support for the so-called Moroccan "autonomy plan", this "will in no way mean that this solution will be imposed on the Sahrawis. In other words, Spain only has to assume its historical, political and legal responsibility as the former colonizer responsible for the conflict (in Western Sahara).
In this context, the Sahrawi diplomat regretted the fact that this new position of Madrid comes at a time when everyone "expected Spain to make efforts within the framework of the United Nations, in order to correct this error, by a real support to an AU-UN solution that would allow the people of Western Sahara to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination and independence.
The Sahrawi ambassador to Botswana explained that the goal of the political solution is to "allow the UN to resolve the conflict in accordance with international law, for example, by reactivating the UN-AU settlement plan of 1991, to get out of this impasse" caused by Rabat, with the support of Western countries, exposed because of their double standards.
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