New York (United States), August 23, 2025 (SPS) – The American Global Monitoring Center in New York City organized Friday an international symposium titled "Morocco's Occupation of Western Sahara as a Threat to Regional and International Peace and Security," with the participation of experts and researchers on the issue of Western Sahara and related regional and international affairs.
Professor Jacob Mundy, a professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at Colgate University in New York, provided a historical overview of Western Sahara, highlighting the major events that characterized the Spanish colonial era and the Moroccan military occupation of Western Sahara in 1975. He pointed out that three factors drove the Moroccan regime to invade Western Sahara with support from some Western powers, primarily the United States of America.
The first of these factors is the expansionist philosophy of Morocco within the framework of the so-called "Greater Morocco." The second is the internal legitimacy crisis faced by King Hassan II's regime, most notably the two military coups against his rule in the early 1970s, which pushed him to seek an "exit" to avert the threat from the army. The third is the abundant resources of Western Sahara, which were the object of the "poor" Morocco's greed.
Regarding the legal aspects of Western Sahara, Professor Mundy emphasized that it is a clear case of decolonization according to the United Nations, which, since the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice in October 1975, has recognized that sovereignty over Western Sahara lies with the Sahrawi people, who must be allowed to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination.
Given the growing threat to regional peace and security posed by the Moroccan regime, Professor Mundy called on Western countries, particularly the United States of America, to reconsider their reliance on the logic of maintaining a degree of "stable instability" in the region, as it will only encourage Morocco to create more tension and instability in the region and beyond. He stressed the need to work towards a sustainable solution by giving the Sahrawi people the opportunity to freely exercise their right to self-determination.
For her part, lawyer Katlyn Thomas, an expert in international law, spoke about her experience as a legal expert within the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO). She testified to Morocco's frantic attempts to obstruct the peace process and falsify the identification process by bringing more of its settlers into occupied Western Sahara, affirming that this is a clear indicator that Morocco fears the outcome of the referendum and knows that the Sahrawi people would choose independence. In this context, she expressed regret that the UN Security Council, under American and French influence, has done nothing to stop Morocco's attempts to manipulate the entire process.
Lawyer Katlyn Thomas also dissected the so-called "Moroccan proposal" and demonstrated with legal and political arguments that it is merely a "maneuver," as no one can expect Morocco, which is ruled by an absolute and authoritarian monarchy, to "care" about the rights of the Sahrawi people, whose land it occupies by force and subjects to brutal daily repression, while the same regime continues to deprive the Moroccan people of their basic rights.
On the other hand, she spoke about the achievements made by the Sahrawi people over the past decades, focusing particularly on the Sahrawi State, which has built solid democratic institutions based on the rule of law and established a culture founded on values of tolerance, openness, and peaceful coexistence. In this context, she encouraged those genuinely concerned with peace and security in Africa to recognize the fact that an independent Sahrawi state would be a guarantor of peace and stability in North Africa, unlike the Moroccan regime, which represents a significant threat to peace and stability throughout the region.
She also touched on the campaign carried out by Morocco, with the help of "lobbies" and paid individuals, aimed at "tarnishing" the reputation of the Polisario Front and the struggle of the Sahrawi people, affirming that officials in the U.S. government and U.S. legislative authorities are well aware that Morocco's accusations are baseless.
In his closing remarks, Dr. Sidi Mohamed Omar, a member of the National Secretariat of the Polisario Front, Representative of the Polisario Front at the United Nations and Coordinator with MINURSO, thanked the American Global Monitoring Center for organizing this important and timely event, as we will soon witness the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the illegal Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara, whose continuation represents the greatest threat to regional peace and security.
He emphasized that the Sahrawi people wish to live in peace with their "northern neighbor" and the other countries of the region, but the peace required is a just and lasting peace. He warned the occupying Moroccan state against persisting in its mistaken belief that it can impose its will on the Sahrawi people, who will continue their resistance by all legitimate means to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination and independence.
In conclusion, the speakers agreed that the well-known and well-documented role played by the Moroccan regime in threatening regional security and stability attests to the fact that this regime remains insistent on using all means to support the pillars of its fragile rule, including its continued illegal occupation of Western Sahara, the commission of horrific crimes against its people, and the pursuit of an expansionist policy that threatens the security and stability of its neighbors.
They called on the international community, particularly influential international powers, to abandon the policy of "double standards" and recognize the fact that long-term peace, security, and stability in Northwest Africa depend entirely, first, on curbing Morocco's expansionist policy and its destabilizing actions, and second, on enabling the Sahrawi people to exercise their right to self-determination freely and democratically.
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