New York (United Nations), 11 June 2025 (SPS) -The permanent representative of Algeria to the United Nations, Ambassador Amar Bendjama, reaffirmed, in New York, that the Western Sahara question “remains a question of decolonization” which opposes Morocco to the Polisario Front, underlining the necessity of the “immediate and substantial” resumption of direct negotiations between the parties to the conflict.
The Western Sahara question which “leaves no room for ambiguity,” “remains a question of decolonization which opposes Morocco to the Polisario Front,” declared Ambassador Bendjama, in his address during the UN Decolonization Committee (C-24), devoted Tuesday to the Western Sahara question, occupied by Morocco since 1975.
The diplomat has deplored the fact that “after six decades of debate at the UN General Assembly, the self-determination referendum promised to the Sahrawi people has still not taken place, and this despite resolution 2229 which strongly reaffirms this fundamental right.”
Recalling that the question of Western Sahara, last African non-autonomous territory, has been inscribed on the UN agenda since 1963.
Bendjama underlined that Algeria which “has terribly suffered” from colonization, “resolutely supports just causes” and “reaffirms that the UN must act with determination to eliminate the last vestiges of colonialism.”
The ambassador also deplored the fact that the United Nations Mission for the Organization of the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), which was established nearly four decades ago by the UN Security Council, “still struggles to accomplish its mandate” which consists of organizing the referendum.
And yet “the elements of international law are clear: the historic advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of 1975 formally excluded any legal link between Western Sahara and Morocco” that could affect the application of resolution 1514, concerning the declaration on the granting of independence to colonized countries and peoples.
Bendjama also emphasized that the European Court of Justice recently reinforced this position in October 2024 by cancelling a fishing agreement between the European Union and Morocco due to the failure to consult the Sahrawi people.
As for human rights in the occupied Sahrawi territories, Algeria’s UN ambassador highlighted several issues mentioned in UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ report, including: “Police control, arbitrary arrests, bans on visits and the expulsion of parliamentarians including European ones, and the removal of UN special rapporteurs as well as journalists.”
“Everything happens behind closed doors,” he said.
To this effect, “we encourage the Committee of 24 to mobilize all its instruments to protect the rights of the Sahrawi people and finally complete this decolonization process.”
“Only one path opens before us: the immediate resumption of direct and substantial negotiations between Morocco and the Polisario Front for a just and lasting solution guaranteeing the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara,” concluded Bendjama.
