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SPS MOROCCO/SADR/UN/COMMENTARY  Morocco proposes to the international community to endorse its violation of international law in Western Sahara.

(Commentary)  

Madrid, 26/09/2005, (SPS) The Moroccan Government has clearly proposed to the international community to turn the page of international legality and to endorse once and for all the Moroccan colonial fait accompli, by forgetting about all the legal decisions, laws, principles and resolutions, in order to allow Rabat to annexe Western Sahara with the blessing of the United Nations, recent official declarations from Moroccan leaders have revealed. 

Mr. Fassi Fihri, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and the real head of Moroccan diplomacy, declared on Sunday to the Spanish press agency, Europe Press, that Morocco "would likely propose, to the UN, negotiations for autonomy for Western Sahara", the agency of the Makhzen's propaganda, MAP, writes, daring to stipulate that a "real autonomy is a meeting point" between the positions of the different parties. 

Through this scandalous statement, Mr Fassi aims at the same time to sow confusion in the minds of those concerned about the dramatic situation of the systematic abuse of the most fundamental rights of the Saharawi population under Moroccan occupation, and also to make it believed that Morocco "proposes", or more precisely "would likely propose" a  political proposal capable of resolving the problem in the blink of an eyelid.  

Legitimate questions are therefore on the agenda here: What is Morocco proposing? Why and by what right does it propose anything at all so long as it persists in defying and trampling on international law? And why now? Further, how long will the international community tolerate Morocco’s "propositions" to violate international law in Western Sahara without reacting? 

The Moroccan proposal is, in fact, only a shameful suggestion for violating international law, which has (since the 60s) defined the Saharawi territory as a "non-self-governing territory" which must be decolonised through a referendum of self-determination, that the Saharawi people has the right to exercise like any other people in the world, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations. 

Morocco is suggesting therefore to change this Charter, to make a mockery of the right of peoples to self-determination, to legalise the right of the strongest to occupy, kill, torture, rape, imprison without trial, abduct, intimidate and pile hundreds of human beings into narrow cells like sardines, as could be seen in the shocking photos of prisoners in El Aaiun's Black Prison. Such is the essence of the Moroccan proposition, already put forward, it must be emphasised since the military occupation of Western Sahara began in 1975, in complete violation of international law.  

Morocco suggests forgetting the thirty-odd resolutions of the UN Security Council, the fifty-plus resolutions of the UN General Assembly, the hundreds of recommendations, motions, petitions of democratic parliaments in the four corners of the world, as well as the Settlement Plan of 1991 and the Houston Agreement of 1997, which it had accepted, in addition to the Baker Plan, unanimously accepted by the international community as the "optimal solution" to the conflict. To all this Morocco has only one proposal: to the bin of the UN. 

Morocco proposes to the Saharawis, to endorse its illegal occupation of Western Sahara by helping it to convince the international community to turn its back on the laws and principles which have, up until now, governed international relations. And it suggests a new law of the jungle, masquerading as "autonomy" an ill defined and mediocre idea. 

But, Morocco does not actually intend to "negotiate a solution outside the UN, the solution should be within the framework of international law", says Mr Fassi, no! he certainly intends to oblige the international community to cede to its intransigence and to accept to taking part in the disgraceful violation of the rights of peoples to self-determination. 

And to "get over the present blockage"? Well, the international community has only to close its eyes a little bit and try to find a "mutually acceptable solution", "accepted by all the parties", a "political solution", and so on, linguistic formulae which all mean the same: flagrant violation of international law and indirect bargaining with lives, rights, the suffering and wealth of the Saharawi people, as well as the stability of a whole region. 

Returning to the question : But why now? 

Firstly, because the Intifada of Independence, which Mr Fassi has called, with an indignation which was almost convincing, "manipulation, disinformation and manifest attempt to amplify the incident", has put Morocco, its doctrine of the colonial and expansionist state and its dreams of being able one day to get the Saharawis to come round, in front of the one and only reality that Rabat always refuses to face up to : "there is no alternative but self-determination". International law has said it many times, the demonstrators in all the occupied Saharawi towns have chanted it loud and clear, the resistance of the Saharawi refugees in the worst conditions of exile prove it and even children in Saharawi schools in the occupied territories have shouted it in the faces of the Moroccan GUS agents. 

Secondly, because the whole world has been able to see clearly the true face of Moroccan colonialism. Photos of the victims of Moroccan abuse of human rights have proved that the feudal system of Rabat has only one response to anyone with courage to defend their rights, convictions or neighbour: prison, torture, rape, defamation and liquidation. 

Thirdly, because Morocco finds itself naked in the face of these realities. It knows that it is in the wrong, politically, diplomatically, morally and legally, while it tries to take the offensive, but, it does it awkwardly through statements here and there, such as that of the Minister of Justice, who says that the Saharawi political prisoners are only "vagabonds and criminals", or Mr Mohamed Bennouna, Morocco's Permanent Representative at the UN, who was good enough to define the contradictions and embarrassment of Rabat in a shameful letter that he sent to the Security Council, and now Mr Fassi "proposes" to resolve the conflict in accordance with the legality of the Makhzen (Moroccan feudal system), by rallying the international community to illegality, human rights abuses, systematic pillage of the natural resources of a non-self-governing territory and so on. 

Finally, it must be recognised that it is completely impossible to reply all the silly things that the official Morocco does, both on the political level and in the media, and the systematic abuses committed by its services of  repression in the occupied territories of Western Sahara. Rabat gets itself deeper and deeper into ridicule, the politically incorrect, and worse still, it is not getting any better at polemic than in the past. 

Having said that, we must recall everyone to reason, wisdom and legality, and remind them that the question of Western Sahara is, whether you want it or not, a question of unfinished decolonisation, which should be resolved through a referendum of self-determination of the Saharawi people, which has been clearly defined by the identification commission of the UN mission in the territory, MINURSO, and whose one and only representative remains the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el Hamra and Rio de Oro. Rabat should see things in colour instead of all black which obscures its vision, and puts an end to its ridiculous attempts aiming to implicate other parties in its delaying manoeuvres, whether it be Algeria or Spain. Its adversary is well and truly the Polisario and its struggle is well and truly far from being ended without conforming with international law.  (SPS)

060/090/ALG 261405 Sept 05 SPS 

 

SPS SADR/MOROCCO Ould Salek: The autonomy is an old idea constantly rejected by the Saharawi people and the international community'

New York, 26/09/2005 (SPS) "The autonomy for the Western Sahara is  is an old idea constantly rejected by the Saharawi people and the international community", affirmed the Saharawi Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mohamed Salem Ould Salek, in reaction to the statement by the Moroccan Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Fassi Fihri, to Spanish press agency, Europa Press in which the later declared a pretended political predisposition to negotiate a so-called autonomy for Western Sahara.

"The United Nations, it should be recalled, always call Morocco to enforce the UN’s Security Council’s resolutions, which consider the Settlement Plan of 1990-91 or the Baker Plan of 2003 as the only solutions and frameworks for the success of the decolonisation process of Western Sahara", the Saharawi diplomat underlined in a written statement SPS received.

Mr. Ould Salek warned that "any other attempt of opposition to this way, which is clearly determined by the international community, such as the attempt of this Moroccan official undertaken in the eve of the mission of the new Special Envoy of the UN4s Secretary General, will be only a new reflection of the persistence of the colonial and expansionist illusions that continue, unfortunately, to influence the reasoning of the Moroccan leadership".

To the Head of the Saharawi diplomacy this way of thinking, which "caused a lot of harm to the peoples of the region, does absolutely not contribute to peace and harmony, which are indispensable for a stable and prosperous Maghreb".

The Minister, finally, invited the Moroccan Government to "cooperate" with the United Nations "in a honest and transparent way so as to finish the decolonisation of Western Sahara, and put an end manière honnête et transparente en vue du parachèvement de la décolonisation du Sahara Occidental, et mettre fin aux violations massives de  droits de l'homme  qu'il continue à exercer de manière honteuse contre la population sahraouie sans défense dans les territoires illégalement occupés de notre pays". (SPS)

010/090/120 261732 sept 05 SPS