United Nations Security Council at UN world headquarters in New York
UNITED NATIONS – NEW YORK – The UN Security Council voted Thursday to extend the mandate of the UN mission MINURSO for one year. The Western Sahara conflict is an ongoing struggle between the Polisario Front and the Kingdom of Morocco. The resolution calls on “the parties to resume negotiations under the auspices of the Secretary General without preconditions and in good faith”, with the objective of achieving “a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution” with a view to the “self-determination of the people of Western Sahara”.
MOROCCO TORTURE, OPPRESSION, AND DISCRIMINATION Against SAHRAWI People
The conflict originated from an insurgency by the Polisario Front against Spanish colonial forces from 1973 to 1975 and the subsequent Western Sahara War against Morocco between 1975 and 1991. The pro-independence rebels fighting Morocco for Western Sahara have said the United Nations was responsible for “political deadlock” over the disputed territory nearly 50 years after their unilateral declaration of independence. Polisario’s position has been that the territory’s final status can only be decided in a referendum that includes independence as an option, while Morocco has proposed that Western Sahara should be an autonomous region within Morocco. Rabat has occupied Western Sahara since 1975, and no other country in the entire world recognizes its sovereignty over the territory. Since the occupation of Western Sahara by Morocco in 1975, the indigenous Sahrawi population who remained in the territory have suffered from discrimination, arbitrary arrest and torture. Human Rights groups accuse Morocco of violating the rights to expression, association, and assembly in Western Sahara. There have also been reports of Sahrawis who are campaigning for self-determination being subjected to discriminatory practices and have been sentenced to long prison terms on the basis of confessions rendered by torture.
Moroccan ambassador to the UN Omar Hilale embraced the UN Security Council resolution
(Photo by Gary Raynaldo / ©Diplomatic Times) Omar Hilale, Permanent Representative of Morocco to the United Nations, speaks to reporters following the adoption of the resolution on the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) at UN world headquarters in New York Oct. 27, 2022.
Omar Hilale, Permanent Representative of Morocco to the United Nations said he supported the Security Council resolution. The ambassador said the resolution is evidence of the “massive support” of the international community for the Moroccan autonomy initiative. Ambassador Hilale said he hopes all parties “can come back to the table, because there will be no solution without discussing all together and having compromised on the initiative of autonomy by Morocco.”
“This new resolution is an answer to Algeria and a new call to Algeria to develop and to clarify its position to help going towards the solution.” -Morocco UN Ambassador
DIPLOMATIC TIMES VIDEO / Omar Hilale, Permanent Representative of Morocco to the United Nations, speaks to reporters following the adoption of the resolution on the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) at UN world headquarters in New York Oct. 27, 2022.
SOUTH AFRICA Strongly Backs POLISARIO Independence Movement
(Photo by Gary Raynaldo / ©Diplomatic Times) Xolisa Mabhongo, Deputy Permanent Representative of South Africa to the United Nations speaks to reporters following the adoption of the resolution on the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) at UN world headquarters in New York Oct. 27, 2022.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has pledged his government’s “unapologetic” backing for the partially recognised Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic in Western Sahara. During a visit last week to Pretoria by Polisario leader Brahim Ghali, President Ramaphosa said , “We are concerned about the silence that persists in the world about the struggle for self determination for the people of Western Sahara.”
POLISARIO UN Ambassador Blames UN “Inaction” For Political Deadlock in Western Sahara
(Photo by Gary Raynaldo / ©Diplomatic Times) Sidi Omar, Representative of the Frente Polisario, speaks to reporters following the adoption of the resolution on the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) at UN world headquarters in New York October 27, 2022
“The Security Council has once again failed to empower the mission with practical and concrete measures to enable to implement its mandate as established in Security Council resolution 690/1991. The continued inaction of the Security Council in the face of aggressive and persistent attempts by the state of Morocco to obstruct and undermine the mandate of MINURSO and to forcibly impose a fait accompli in the occupied territories of the Sahara, leaves the Saharawi people with no other option, but to continue and intensify the legitimate armed struggle to defend and enable our nonnegotiable right to self-determination and independence.”
–Sidi Omar, Representative of the Frente Polisario
DIPLOMATIC TIMES VIDEO / Sidi Omar, Representative of the Frente Polisario , speaks to reporters following the adoption of the resolution on the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) at UN world headquarters in New York Oct. 27, 2022.
DIPLOMATIC TIMES VIDEO / Sidi Omar, Representative of the Frente Polisario , speaks to reporters following the adoption of the resolution on the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) at UN world headquarters in New York Oct. 27, 2022.
(Photo by Gary Raynaldo / ©Diplomatic Times) UN Security Council Media Stakeout by Xolisa Mabhongo, Deputy Permanent Representative of South Africa to the United Nations, and Sidi Omar, Representative of the Frente Polisario, following the adoption of the resolution on the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) October 27, 2022.
