The representative of the Polisario Front at the United Nations, who is responsible for coordinating with MINURSO, Mohamed Sidi Ammar, said that the failure of the UN Security Council had allowed the Moroccan occupying power to torpedo the process of fully implementing the mandate of MINURSO, warning that the impunity of the occupation pushed him to continue its practices and work. The aggression that led to the return of war in the Western Sahara .
In his statement on the occasion of the thirty-year anniversary of the entry into force of the ceasefire in Western Sahara, Sidi Ammar reiterated the full commitment of the Polisario over nearly three decades and in good faith to the United Nations-led peace process in Western Sahara and its massive concessions so that the United Nations Mission The United Nations for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) could fully implement its mandate and achieve its ultimate objective of holding a free and fair referendum to determine the fate of the people of Western Sahara.
However – the Sahrawi diplomat adds – “The Security Council’s inaction has allowed the occupying state of Morocco not only to torpedo the process of the full implementation of MINURSO’s mandate but also to prevent the mission from operating in accordance with the general principles applicable to UN peacekeeping operations.
The restrictions imposed by the occupying power on the mission, which remain in place today, have further damaged the mission’s credibility, impartiality and independence.
He stressed that “the best evidence today of the failure of the Security Council, which bears the primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security, is its failure to act forcefully and resolutely in the face of Morocco’s grave breach of the 1991 ceasefire and its new aggressive action on the liberated areas of Western Sahara on November 13, 2020. “.
He added that “the new Moroccan aggressive action, which continues to this day with complete impunity, led to the collapse of nearly thirty years of the ceasefire and the outbreak of war again in Western Sahara, which may lead to the most serious consequences for peace, security and stability in the region.” The entire region at a time when armed confrontations between the Sahrawi army and the Moroccan occupation forces continue and escalate with each passing day.
With regard to the human rights situation, Sidi Ammar stressed that the Sahrawi people, who for three decades bet on a peaceful solution, showed patience and flexibility, and exercised the utmost restraint in the face of continued Moroccan provocations and attacks, are now exposed to a new brutal aggression by the Moroccan occupying state, in full view and hearing of the United Nations and the international community.
The official deplored the failure to expand MINURSO’s mandate to human rights monitoring, as it stated in the statement, “Although the Security Council has been including the issue of human rights in the mandates of peace operations since 1991, MINURSO still constitutes an anomaly in that it does not have any mandate in terms of relating to human rights.”
In this regard, he said, “Now, thirty years after the deployment of the mission in the Territory, MINURSO is still completely unable to protect the human rights of Sahrawi civilians and human rights activists in the territories under the illegal Moroccan occupation.”
By the way, he renewed the Frente POLISARIO’s full commitment to a peaceful and lasting solution to the decolonization of Western Sahara on the basis of full respect for the inalienable and uncompromising right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination and independence, in accordance with the objectives and principles of the Constitutive Act of the African Union and the relevant UN and AU resolutions.
He stressed that “the Sahrawi people will never accept the fait accompli that the Moroccan occupying state seeks to impose by force in the occupied territories of Western Sahara, and will continue to use all legitimate means to defend their legitimate rights and national aspirations.”
He stressed that the time has come for the United Nations and the Security Council in particular to pair their repeatedly stated commitment to a peaceful, just and lasting solution in Western Sahara with concrete measures to enable the Sahrawi people to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination and independence freely and democratically.
Today marks thirty years since the ceasefire entered into force between the two parties to the conflict in Western Sahara, the Polisario Front and Morocco, on September 6, 1991, as an integral part of the joint settlement proposals between the United Nations and the Organization of African Unity, which the two parties accepted on August 30, 1988.
