Algiers, Feb 07, 2018 (SPS)- Saharawi Foreign Minister Mohamed Salem Ould Salek said Morocco must put an end to its occupation of the territories of an African Union’s member state as it has joined the African institution.
Speaking Monday at a press conference at the SADR embassy in Algiers, Ould Salek said "African leaders stressed, during the 30th AU Summit on January 28-29 in Addis Ababa, that Morocco’s AU membership must lead to the establishment of peace between the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) and the kingdom of Morocco in line with the Rabat’s commitments by signing the constitutive act (of the African Union)."
"Peaceful coexistence and the establishment of a just and lasting peace between the SADR and Morocco was possible and necessary, but this cannot be achieved without Morocco putting an end to its occupation of AU member State’s territories and respecting the internationally recognized borders and Western Sahara people’s right to self-determination and independence," the African leaders said, according to Saharawi official.
The Saharawi Foreign Minister said African summit’s decisions on the conflict between the SADR and the kingdom of Morocco show that "Rabat’s attempts to exclude the African Union from the international community’s decolonization process in Western Sahara go against geography, history and legality."
"Those attempts cannot challenge African Leaders’ will to address African issues and the continent to speak in a single voice by implementing the Union’s strategy 2063 and the declaration of principles of the 50th anniversary of Unity’s creation."
"one year after its African Union membership and 33 years after its withdrawal from the same organization, in protest of SADR’s membership, Morocco notices that AU positions have become, over time, more committed to the constitutive principles of the African Union, and especially the requirement to respect the borders inherited from the colonial times after independence, to respect the territorial integrity of the member States, the right of peoples to self-determination and independence, in addition to peaceful settlement of conflicts through dialogue and negotiations," the Saharawi Foreign Minister said.
The 30th African Union summit has adopted many decisions on Western Sahara conflict, urging the two AU summit to embark on direct negotiations for the organization of a self-determent referendum, with AU and UN support, to reactivate the Committee of Heads of State and Government on Western Sahara and to assign the ask the president of the African Union, the chairman of AU Commission and the head of the Peace and Security Council to find a solution to the conflict in coordination with the United Nations.SPS
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