New York (United Nations), 2 October 2025 (SPS) – Dr SidiMohamed Omar, Member of the National Secretariat and Representative of the Frente POLISARIO at the United Nations and Coordinator with MINURSO, addressed today a letter to Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations and current President of the Security Council, in which he rebutted by documented evidence the false claims made by the representative of Morocco, the occupying state, during the General Debate of the 80thSession of the UN General Assembly.
The full text of the letter as received by SPS:
Letter from the Representative of the Frente POLISARIO at the United Nations and Coordinator with MINURSO to the President of the Security Council
H.E. Mr Vassily Nebenzia
Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations
President of the Security Council
New York, 2 October 2025
Your Excellency,
Allow me first to congratulate you on assuming the presidency of the Security Council for this month and to wish you every success in your mission.
Using the right of reply at the General Debate of the 80th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, the Moroccan permanent representative to the United Nations returned to his habit of twisting the truth and desperately trying to mislead Member States regarding the question of Western Sahara.
The representative of Morocco, the occupying state, claimed falsely that his country “listed” the question of Western Sahara on “the decolonisation list” of the United Nations. This claim is utterly unfounded as evidenced by the official records of the United Nations itself. Suffice it to refer, for example, to the meeting of the Fourth Committee of the General Assembly (A/C.4/SR.1506), held on 9 December 1963, where the Moroccan representative firmly “opposed” the consideration of Western Sahara as a Non-Self-Governing Territory after Spain, the administering power, had started to transmit information on the Territory to the Secretary-General in line with article 73(e) of the UN Charter.
Indeed, history is stubborn, and facts are stubborn things too. The only “credit” that Morocco, the occupying state, can claim is for listing “the problem of Mauritania”, as part of its expansionist policy, on the agenda of the Fifteenth Session of the General Assembly by means of a letter (A/4445) addressed to the Secretary-General by the Moroccan foreign minister on 20 August 1960. In its “addition to the explanatory memorandum on the problem of Mauritania”, Morocco asserted that “Mauritania, within the borders at present assigned it (sic) by France, has always been an integral part of [Morocco] national territory” (A/4445/Add.1, para. 1).
It is important in this context to refer to the statement (A/C.1/SR.1109) made, on 15 November 1960, by the Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations, Armand Bérard, during the Fifteenth Session of the General Assembly in which he defended Mauritania against the claims made by “the Moroccan expansionists” (para. 24). Of special significance is that, in his argumentation, the French Representative affirmed that both Mauritania and Western Sahara were never part of Morocco using some of the arguments that would be invoked by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 1975 to refute Morocco’s unfounded claims of “sovereignty” over Western Sahara.
The representative of Morocco, the occupying state, referred once again to General Assembly resolution 3458 B (XXX) of 10 December 1975, which “took note of” the “Madrid Agreement” that was concluded by Spain with Mauritania and Morocco in Madrid on 14 November 1975, claiming again that the tripartite agreement “had put an end to the Spanish colonisation” of Western Sahara in favour of Morocco, the occupying state.
Interestingly, the representative of the occupying state still remembers the lesson that he learnt from our previous letter (S/2024/520) in which we exposed his wilful misrepresentation of General Assembly resolution 3458 B (XXX), when he claimed falsely that the General Assembly had “endorsed” (“entériné” in his original statement in French) the “Madrid Agreement”. However, there remains yet a great deal for him to learn to stop propagating manifestly unfounded claims that are an insult to the intelligence of Member States.
It is a well-established fact that the General Assembly has never “endorsed” or “approved” the “Madrid Agreement”. It has never considered the agreement to have affected the international status of Western Sahara as a Territory subject to a decolonisation process in accordance with General Assembly resolution 742 (VIII) of 27 November 1953 and relevant resolutions. The Legal Opinion issued by the Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, the Legal Counsel, on 29 January 2002, at the request of the Security Council is abundantly clear on this issue.
In his Legal Opinion, the Legal Counsel, Hans Corell, established that: “The Madrid Agreement did not transfer sovereignty over the Territory, nor did it confer upon any of the signatories the status of an administering Power—a status which Spain alone could not have unilaterally transferred. The transfer of administrative authority over the Territory to Morocco and Mauritania in 1975 did not affect the international status of Western Sahara as a Non-Self-Governing Territory.” (S/2002/161, para. 6). The UN Legal Counsel’s conclusion, which is grounded in the UN Charter and relevant principles of international law, speaks for itself and requires no further comment.
Moreover, if “Madrid Agreement” of 1975 “had settled” the question of Western Sahara, as the representative of the occupying state keeps on claiming, why do the General Assembly and its subsidiary bodies as well as the Security Council remain seized of the question of Western Sahara “as an issue of decolonisation” in the case of the General Assembly and “as a matter of peace and security” in the case of the Security Council (A/80/290, para. 2)?
The representative of the occupying state has never been able to answer this or any other straightforward questions on this matter. This demonstrates the absurdity of the entire “argument” on the basis of which the occupying state has been trying to “justify” itsillegal, military occupation of Western Sahara, which has been going on since 1975 in blatant violation of the UN Charter and the Constitutive Act of the African Union.
In his statement, the representative of the occupying state rehashed the same claims about the “colossal investment projects” and other “fictitious ventures” in Occupied Western Sahara, which is a colonial, barefaced lie.
If the situation in Occupied Western Sahara were as described by the Moroccan representative, why does the occupying state continue to prevent the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) from visiting the Territory since 2015 despite the Security Council’s repeated calls on the occupying state to facilitate such visits (S/RES/2756 (2024))? Why does the occupying state continue to deny entry to foreign journalists and independent observers and deport those who manage to enter Occupied Western Sahara?
The answer is clear: Morocco, the occupying state, fears that the world would know about the atrocities and heinous crimes perpetrated by its repressive forces against Sahrawis in Occupied Western Sahara and the veritable inferno in which they have been living under brutal, military occupation since 1975.
Since charity begins at home, as the saying goes, instead of propagating claims about the fictitious “colossal investment projects” in Occupied Western Sahara, the representative of Morocco, the occupying state, must be very concerned about the abject poverty, misery, and the inhumane conditions in which millions of his fellow Moroccans live, which are pushing many of them these days to take to the streets to protest against their miserable situation.
The representative of the occupying state misleadingly referred to how the issue of Western Sahara is addressed by the relevant UN organs. However, his insinuations only show ignorance of the Charter of the United Nations and the specific powers of each one of its principal organs, especially the Geneal Assembly and the Security Council in this case.
Based on the powers of relevant UN organs as per the UN Charter, the Secretary-General stated clearly in his report (A/80/290) on the “Question of Western Sahara”, dated 31 July 2025, that “the Security Council addresses Western Sahara as a matter of peace and security, calling in successive resolutions for a “just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution, which will provide for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara”. The Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee) of the General Assembly and the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples address Western Sahara as a Non-Self-Governing Territory and an issue of decolonization”.
I would be most grateful if you would bring the present letter to the attention of the members of the Security Council.
Please accept, Your Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.
Dr Sidi M. Omar
Ambassador
Representative of the Frente POLISARIO at the United Nations
Coordinator with MINURSO
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