|
Bir Lehlu (liberated territories),June 07,2009 (SPS) The President of the Republic and the Secretary General of the Polisario Front , Mohamed Abdelaziz, asked Sunday the SG of the UN, Ban Ki Moon to intervene urgently to not allow Moroccan authorities to organize Moroccan local elections scheduled next Friday in occupied territories of Western Sahara.
“In view of these sincere concerns that reflect the severity of tangible facts, I would like to call on you, Mr. Secretary-General, to act in an appropriate, public and adequate way to avoid that the Moroccan elections extend illegally to Western Sahara, a territory pending decolonization and is under the responsibility of the Untied Nations,” wrote the president in his letter to Ban Ki-Moon received copy at SPS.
Here is the full text of the letter (official translation)
H.E. Mr. Ban Ki-moon
Secretary-General of the United Nations
New York,
Bir Lehou, 7 June 2009
Mr. Secretary-General,
The Government of the Kingdom of Morocco is preparing to organize local elections, on 12 June 2009, whose geographical scope extends to the territory of Western Sahara.
The Government of the Sahrawi Republic, as a Member of the African Union, as well as the Frente POLISARIO consider that these elections do not have any legal and valid effect on the Sahrawi territory illegally occupied by Moroccan forces. In view of the second visit that your Personal Envoy, Christopher Ross, intends to conduct to the region in the near future, these elections constitute a deliberate act of provocation that introduces new and serious difficulties before the resumption of the direct negotiations, which you and the Security Council have consistently endorsed as a means to reactivate the stalemated peace process.
In conformity with the relevant resolutions of the United Nations and the historic ruling of the International Court of Justice of 16 October 1975, which was reaffirmed by the legal opinion of 29 January 2002 issued by the former Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, the Legal Counsel, Dr. Hans Corell, Western Sahara, consistent with the UN’s doctrine, is a territory over which Morocco does not have any sovereignty whatsoever, and it is legally different and separate from the Moroccan territory. It is also on the list of the Special Committee of 24 and the General Assembly as a Territory pending a decolonization process, which will only be concluded in a valid way after the Sahrawi people have exercised their inalienable right to self-determination and independence. In accordance with General Assembly resolutions 34/37 and 35/18, Morocco is an “occupying power” of Western Sahara.
As a result of the legitimate resistance of the Sahrawi people and the decolonization efforts deployed by the United Nations, Morocco, through its acceptance of the Settlement Plan and the subsequent complementary peace plans, had committed itself before the Security Council to cooperate with the UN and its mission in Western Sahara (MINURSO) in the holding of a self-determination referendum as called for by the international community.
As it already known, despite the laudable efforts carried out by James Baker in his capacity as Personal Envoy of your predecessor, Kofi Annan, Morocco decided, in 2004, to turn its back on the UN and to renege on all the commitments that it had undertaken. It has henceforth been bent on sabotaging the efforts deployed by the UN with a view to resuming the decolonisation process. As a corollary of this, Morocco now is trying to impose on the international community the legitimacy of its illegal occupation of the Territory through the reinforcement of the fait accompli, the illegal exploitation of the natural resources of the Territory, systematic repression and violation of basic human rights and other acts such as the abovementioned elections. All these practices are clearly in contravention of the UN resolutions relating to the decolonization of Western Sahara.
You will agree with me, Mr. Secretary-General, on the fact that this state of affairs cannot go on indefinitely before the eyes of the Sahrawi people who had believed in the commitment assumed by the UN regarding the self-determination referendum. It cannot either continue before the eyes of a UN mission present in the Territory, which has so far been humiliated by impotency in the face of the obstruction of its mandate and the persistent human rights violations. This state of affairs cannot continue indefinitely before the eyes of Africa that it does not accept that Western Sahara becomes the exception to the principle of peoples’ self-determination that had driven its decolonization. It cannot either go on before the eyes of the world that finds it hard to believe and understand that Morocco continues to enjoy a kind of a veto right reinforced by the shield of impunity provided to it by some countries inside the UN system to the detriment of the credibility of the international system itself.
This Moroccan attitude represents a flagrant political provocation that hampers the efforts deployed by the international community with a view to resuming the negotiations on the self-determination of the Sahrawi people in line with the UN principles and resolutions.
In view of these sincere concerns that reflect the severity of tangible facts, I would like to call on you, Mr. Secretary-General, to act in an appropriate, public and adequate way to avoid that the Moroccan elections extend illegally to Western Sahara, a territory pending decolonization and is under the responsibility of the Untied Nations.
Please accept, Mr. Secretary-General, the assurances of my highest consideration.
Mohamed Abdelaziz
President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic,
Secretary-General of the Frente POLISARIO.SPS
080/090/100/72217June09SPS
|
