Bir Lehlou (Sahrawi Republic), 10 May 2026 (SPS) – Today, the President of the Sahrawi Republic and Secretary-General of the Frente POLISARIO, Mr. Brahim Ghali, addressed a letter to the UN Secretary-General, Mr. António Guterres. In the letter, the President conveyed the Frente POLISARIO’s strongest condemnation of the irresponsible and inaccurate statements recently issued by some governments that try to create a smokescreen to hide the facts on the ground in Occupied Western Sahara and divert attention from the ongoing war of aggression that Morocco, the occupying state, has been waging against the Sahrawi people since October 1975.
In the letter—a copy of which was addressed to the current President of the UN Security Council, Ambassador Fu Cong, Permanent Representative of the People’s Republic of China to the United Nations—the President of the Republic concluded that just and lasting peace in our region can never be achieved by rewarding Morocco, the occupying state, for its expansionism and attempts to alter borders by force, but by defending the inalienable right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination and independence.
The full text of the letter of the President of the Republic, as received by SPS:
Bir Lehlou, 10 May 2026
H.E. Mr. António Guterres
Secretary-General of the United Nations
United Nations, New York
Mr. Secretary-General,
I am addressing this letter to you to express our strongest condemnation of the irresponsible and inaccurate statements recently issued by some governments that try to create a smokescreen to hide the facts on the ground in Occupied Western Sahara and divert attention from the ongoing war of aggression that Morocco, the occupying state, has been waging against the Sahrawi people since October 1975.
Besides spreading misinformation, manufacturing falsehoods and weaponizing false narratives, these statements constitute a brazen violation of the international status of Western Sahara as a decolonization issue on the agenda of the United Nations since 1963. They also represent a direct incentive to Morocco, the occupying state, to continue forcibly entrenching its illegal occupation of our country, oppressing our people, and depriving them of their inalienable right to self-determination and independence.
History is unforgiving. The governments that marched in the Moroccan “black march” in 1975 and provided weapons and funding to the occupying state to invade and occupy Western Sahara are materially complicit in the crimes perpetrated against the Sahrawi people. They are equally responsible for prolonging and fueling the conflict and for endangering regional peace and security.
Mr. Secretary-General,
Those that claim that there is now a “ceasefire” in Western Sahara are deluding themselves and misleading the international community. Morocco, the occupying state, breached the 1991 ceasefire on 13 November 2020 when its forces illegally occupied more of the Sahrawi land and constructed, as you stated in your report (S/2021/843, para. 35), “an approximately 20 km long new sand wall at Guerguerat” and “consolidated its presence over some 40 km2 of land in the buffer strip”.
Moreover, it was the occupying state that defiantly declared that its actions at Guerguerat were “irreversible”, as you also stated in your report (S/2021/843, para. 23). Besides, in its resolutions from 2021 to 2024, the Security Council noted with deep concern “the breakdown of the ceasefire”. Your reports and Security Council resolutions confirm that currently there is no ceasefire agreement to be “upheld” or “returned to” as these statements falsely claim.
The undeniable fact is that since Morocco, the occupying state, breached, with complete impunity, the 1991 ceasefire and related military agreements on 13 November 2020, there is currently no ceasefire agreement in effect between the Sahrawi Army and Morocco’s occupying forces. What is there now is an open state of war that Morocco, the occupying state, has ignited and bears sole responsibility for its consequences.
It is this act of aggression by Morocco, the occupying state, that forced the Sahrawi people to exercise their legitimate right to self-defense and resistance against occupation, which is well-established and upheld by the relevant resolutions of the United Nations, including General Assembly resolutions 2983 (XXVII) of 14 December 1972 and 34/37 of 21 November 1979, among others.
Mr. Secretary-General,
All your reports (S/2022/733), (S/2023/729), (S/2024/707), (S/2025/612) on the situation concerning Western Sahara, which were submitted to the Security Council in 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 respectively, report dozens of “aerial and other strikes” carried out by the Moroccan forces, which caused “civilian casualties” and “material damage”. Those cases represent only what the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) was able to document.
It is undeniable, however, that, since its violation of the ceasefire on 13 November 2020, the Moroccan occupying forces have been using all types of lethal weapons, including uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs), to callously kill dozens of innocent civilians not only from Western Sahara, but also from Algeria, Mauritania and nationals of other countries while in transit through the Liberated Sahrawi Territories.
It is a legally established norm that the deliberate targeting of civilians and civilian objects constitutes a war crime in line with the Statute of the International Criminal Court. It is also a violation of the rules of international humanitarian law applicable in international armed conflicts. Morocco, the occupying state, must therefore be strongly condemned and held accountable for its continued crimes against civilians in Western Sahara.
However, we have never heard any of those governments raise their voices to condemn the Moroccan occupying forces for targeting and killing civilians and destroying civilian objects in Western Sahara. The incoherence, blatantly manifested in the statements recently issued by those governments, is utterly indefensible, both ethically and politically.
Those who are genuinely concerned about the stability of North Africa must realize that just and lasting peace in our region can never be achieved by rewarding Morocco, the occupying state, for its expansionism and attempts to alter borders by force or by endorsing its colonial “proposal”, but by defending the inalienable right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination and independence. This is the only viable path to just and lasting peace.
I would be grateful if you would bring this letter to the attention of the Members of the Security Council.
Please accept, Mr. Secretary-General, the assurances of my highest consideration
Brahim Ghali
President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
Secretary-General of the Frente POLISARIO
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