VilanovaiLa Geltru (Spain), 18 November 2016 (SPS) – President of the Republic, Secretary-General of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali, confirmed that the just and peaceful solution to the Moroccan Sahrawi conflict is in grave danger today due to the Moroccan repeated escalation and provocation, in a speech at the opening of the 41st European Conference for Support and Solidarity with the Sahrawi people.
In the speech delivered on his behalf by the President of the National Council, Khatri Adouh, the President of the Republic said “I regret to say that the just and peaceful solution to the Moroccan Sahrawi conflict is in grave danger today. The explosive situation at Al Guergarat, in southern Western Sahara, would not have arisen if the Security Council, through the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), had not failed in preventing the Moroccan transgression. Because of this failure, the Sahrawi army was forced to intervene to prevent Morocco from annexing new territories and changing the status quo established under the military agreement nº 1 that regulates the relationship between MINURSO and the two parties to the conflict.”
“There is no doubt that the Moroccan state of occupation is the responsible for this threat through its repeated escalation and provocation. However, the prime responsibility lies with the UN Security Council because it has failed since 1991 in implementing and defending its decisions aiming at the decolonisation of Western Sahara.”
“The UN Security Council is responsible for the impasse confronting the conflict today because it has unfortunately allowed MINURSO to be an exception, thus subjecting it to the will of the Moroccan military illegal occupation. Unlike other peacekeeping operations that operate in line with certain standards and procedures, no such considerations have been taken in the case of MINURSO in terms of car license plates, entry visas and monitoring of human rights as well as ensuring freedom of observers to visit the Territory and interacting with the population and the like.”
“Because of its continuous indifference and indecisiveness, the UN Security Council has given the Moroccan state of occupation a free hand to rebel against international legality and to attack the authority of the Council itself by expressing its unwillingness to cooperate with the UN Secretary-General and his Personal Envoy, expelling the political and administrative component of MINURSO and breaching blatantly the cease-fire.”
“Peace in Western Sahara is in danger. The UN Security Council therefore should take a decisive decision to enforce expeditiously the provisions of the UN-OAU Settlement Plan endorsed by the Council and signed by the two parties to the conflict, which aims at holding a free and fair referendum in which the Sahrawi people would exercise their right to self-determination and independence,” added the President of the Republic in the speech at the opening of the 41st European Conference for Support and Solidarity with the Sahrawi people. (SPS)
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